Taming Time
by Errow
Summary: Hermione is getting ready to start her seventh year at Hogwarts after the war has ended, but then she begins to fade away, falling back in time to the Marauders seventh year. Hermione soon finds herself on adventures with the infamous Marauders, and falling in love with Sirius Black. Time Travel. SB/HG. A bit of a tragedy. Complete.
1. Fading Away

**Taming Time**

Disclaimer: Everything belongs where it should, with the amazing JK Rowling.

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**Chapter 1: Fading Away**

The air was filled with the sweet sounds and smells of late August as Hermione, Ginny, and Molly Weasley worked in the garden outside the Burrow. Ginny seemed quaint and content, working next to Hermione and Molly. Molly was also enjoying her afternoon gardening with the girls. But Hermione, on the other hand, found herself in no way at ease with the task of gardening outside.

Hermione couldn't deny the fact that lately, things had been hard. It was summer, and the war had ended, she was supposed to be happy! However, since the war had ended, Hermione found herself falling into a state of depression. First it was her parents, Hermione had failed to find and bring them back from Australia, and then Ron, who broke her heart shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts. She found herself constantly surrounded by happy, care-free people while she was anything but happy.

"Hermione, dear, get me a shovel from the shed, would you?" Molly asked.

"Sure," Hermione nodded, getting up and walking towards the old shed.

As she walked, Hermione felt a familiar, yet strange feeling in her stomach. It wasn't exactly nausea, but more of a turning feeling, as if she was spinning around in circles. She arrived at the shed and tried to forget the peculiar sensation.

The young witch grabbed the shovel and gasped upon seeing her hand. Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected her hand and arm. "What is this?" She murmured to herself. It was as if her hand was fading away, dissapearing for seconds at a time before reappearing again. This sort of thing had happened to her before, but never so severe. In the past, it was only that feeling in her stomach, but now she seemed to be disappearing, fading away. "Maybe you're just going crazy." She whispered to herself with a slight laugh.

As she walked back out of the shed it became aware to her that the fading was not just some elaborate halucination. It was definitely real. The shed was fading away, just like her hand earlier, soon the bright blue sky turned black, only lit by what appeared to be torches, lining a long corridor.

She began walking, finding her feet on stone rather than the grass she had just stepped on. She still had the shovel in hand, and held it cautiously, knowing that she had not been carrying her wand with her earlier, and she couldn't use spells to defend herslef.

Hermione continued down the dimly lit corridor, finding that it seemed quite hazy and hard to distinguish where she was. "Hello?" She called, looking for any sign of another living person.

It was empty, hallow and quiet, but she recognized it. She had been there before, but she just couldn't place it in her memory.

The hallway went on for a long ways, seemingly never-ending. Hermione walked for a couple minutes.

But then it was gone. The hallway faded and a blue sky took it's place. She was back at the Burrow.

"Hermione, there you are!" Molly said, "What took you so long?"

Hermione once again furrowed her eyebrows. "I- I don't know."

Now Ginny looked up at her, squinting her eyes from the sunlight, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Hermione brushed it off, "Never mind." And with that, she joined Molly and Ginny, returning to her work.

A similar thing had happened before to Hermione. But it was never like this. It started when she was just a little girl, she was in third year when it began. But it only happened every few months or so, and it was only ever a feint feeling, like time had slipped up for a moment. But this was so real, and she had actually traveled somewhere else. Yes, this was something different.

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Five days later, it happened again. She was just running upstairs to get a scarf before they left for Diagon alley. They were going shopping for books before school started. She skipped the last stair as she ran to the room she shared with Ginny. Her scarf was just hanging on the bedpost, right where she left it. She grabbed the scarf and turned around, looping it around her neck.

"Oh no." Hermione mumbled. It was happening again. That turning feeling in her stomach. She looked in a nearby mirror and found her face fading away.

The mirror transformed into a large brick wall. A train horn blew behind her as children's voices rang in her ears. Hermione turned around and recognized it immediately. It was the Hogwarts Express. She was in Kings Cross station.

It was definitely less hazy than last time, but she still didn't feel like she was completely there. She started considering the possibilities of how she arrived there. Had she accidentally apparated? She didn't think that was possible, especially since it wasn't time to go to Hogwarts yet, they still had about a week until the train would be departing from platform nine and three quarters.

"Excuse me?" She approached a man and woman, obviously parents of a departing witch or wizard. "Do have the date?"

The man looked and her and raised an eyebrow. "September first, 1977, of course! And our little boy is going to Hogwarts!" He grinned, putting his arm around his wife and pointing to a little blond boy boarding the train.

"1977?" Hermione said, shock evident in her voice.

He chuckled, "Yes...1977." The man studied Hermione for a moment, "Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I- I'm fine." Hermione took a deep breath, and backed away from the man, "Thank you!" She smiled.

She was in 1977, how did she get here? She walked over to a bench and sat down for a moment, trying to catch her breath and contemplate what was going on. A group of boys, probably seventh years ran by yelling something about "getting good seats" and as she watched them go by, everything started to fade. The last boy, with long black hair dissapeared until all that was left was the sound of footsteps.

"Hermione, are you coming?" Ginny asked, entering their shared room.

Hermione looked around, finding that everything was normal again, just how she had left it, back in her time. "Yeah, Gin, I'm coming." She said, following the red-headed witch downstairs where Molly was giving the same floo instructions they heard every year.

"You excited to get our school things, Hermione?" Harry asked as Hermione approached him.

"Yeah... Very excited." She said with a forced smile.

She had to figure out what was going on. Was she going mad? She decided that must have been the answer since it was physically impossible for her to travel over twenty years back in time.

Hermione eventually forgot about her frightening experience for the rest of the day, pretending it never happened and partly believing it wouldn't happen again.

But it did happen again.

And the next time she faded away, she didn't come back.

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A/N: Reviews, Favorites, and Follows are really appreciated.


	2. Welcome to Hogwarts

**Chapter 2: Welcome to Hogwarts**

"Oi, Ron, pass the salt." George said, nudging his younger brother, who sat next to him.

Ron rolled his eyes and handed the small salt shaker to his brother.

Hermione sat across the table, pushing her food around her plate and watching the people around her chat. In three days, they would be going back to Hogwarts for their seventh year and Hermione would be returning to Kings Cross station, except this time, it wouldn't be in 1977... Hopefully.

"So, are you kids excited to see Hogwarts again?" Molly asked with an excited smile, "Minerva tells me the renovations turned out well!"

After the war, Hogwarts needed to be rebuilt. The ministry helped out and the castle was restored to it's former beauty. Now, the doors were opening once again for students. Hermione was one of many students invited back for her seventh year since she had missed school while on the run during the war.

"Yeah, I really want to get back to playing Quidditch!" Harry said with a grin.

"Same here, lets dominate this year, mate!" Ron said, raising his glass.

Hermione sighed, trying not to focus on Ron for too long. It still hurt her to look at him since their break up. She didn't feel right here, she just didn't fit with these people anymore. Here they were, chatting about the joys of Hogwarts and how happy they were to be moving on after the war. But Hermione couldn't help but feel that they were all passing her by, moving on when she could do no such thing.

Then she began to fade.

She felt that strange feeling in her stomach, and looked down to find her hand disappearing. This time it felt even more real than before.

She looked up at Harry, and found him staring at her in confusion. "Hermi-" he began to speak, but faded away before he could finish.

"Harry!" Hermione called, but found that he was gone.

It was definitely different this time. It felt so real, she could feel the chill of the wind and smell food coming from inside. And this time, she knew exactly where she was immediately. She was at Hogwarts, in the main courtyard. Behind her, there were feint lights which she knew to be the students, crossing the bridge to enter Hogwarts. It was the first night of school, their arrival at Hogwarts.

Hermione smiled slightly, but her grin disappeared when she remembered her situation. Was she in 1977 again? Should she ask someone? She remembered the rules of the time turner she used in third year: one must not be seen when traveling in time. So it would probably unwise to let all the approaching students see her. But she had to talk to someone, maybe Dumbledore could help.

Hermione ran towards the large doors, inside Hogwarts and straight to Dumbledore's office. Or was it McGonagall's office? She would find out very soon.

When she arrived at Dumbledore's office, she realized the flaw in her plan; the office was closed and she didn't know the password. Hermione tried knocking, and every password she could think of, but to no avail.

Suddenly, the statue began to move as did the staircase and a man who was unmistakably Dumbledore descended the stairs. But he was younger, fewer wrinkles littered his face, and he wore a bright smile, something she seldom knew from her time.

"Professor Dumbledore!" She said in excitement. Her smile, however, disappeared when she realized that she mist have gone back to 1977 if he was alive and younger.

"Hello, there." He greeted her, seemingly not taken back by her visit. "Shouldn't you be with the rest of the students, heading to the great hall? But you're not wearing school robes, am I really running that late for dinner?"

"Well, you're not late, Professor, but I seem to have somewhat of a dilemma." Hermione said, walking alongside him as they headed for the great hall.

"Oh, and what is that?" He inquired.

"What year is it?"

He raised his eyebrows in surprise before responding, "I do believe it is 1977."

Hermione took a deep breath and contemplated how she was going to put this, "Sir, I'm not from here... Not from this time, I mean... You see, I'm from the year 1998, and I don't really understand how, but I've ended up here."

Dumbledore was quiet for a few seconds before speaking again. "Ah, that is quite a dilemma. Tell, me, what exactly happened before you arrived here."

Hermione quickly recounted her tale of what happened, telling Dumbledore about being in That strange corridor, and Kings Cross station, and now appearing at Hogwarts.

"Well, miss, I do believe you are a time traveler then," He chuckled slightly, "You obviously know me from the future, do you go to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I was just about to start my seventh year here."

"Hmmm, then why don't you stay for a while? I need to be at dinner right now, so why don't you join us? After dinner we can discuss this more." He said happily, they were getting close to the great hall.

"Oh, I don't know if I should do that." Hermione hesitated.

"It's fine, really, what house are you in?" He inquired.

"Gryffindor."

"Oh, I have to admit, I would have expected Ravenclaw, you seem like a wise girl. But by all means, go inside and have a seat at the Gryffindor table." He motioned for her to go inside. She could hear children talking and laughing from inside.

Hermione hesitated, knowing this wasn't right, she shouldn't let people see her. But meybe she was just going mad, and it didn't matter what she did if this was all a halucination. "Okay," She agreed, "but what should I tell people when they ask how I got here? They'll know I wasn't here last year."

Dumbledore nodded, stroking his beard in thought, "I'm assuming you know professor McGonagall?"

Hermione nodded.

"Tell them you're her niece, and you've been homeschooled up until now." He smiled, liking the sound of his idea, "I'll discuss it with her during dinner."

Hermione thought it over, it made sense, and she could probably pass as McGonagall's niece. "Alright, thank you, Professor."

"Anytime. What did you say your name was?"

"Hermione Granger," She responded before she could catch herself, realizing that she probably shouln't reveal her name.

Dumbledore smiled, "Good luck then, Hermione, and welcome back to Hogwarts."

And with that, Hermione entered the large room, filled to the brim with students in their Hogwarts robes, talking and finding seats around their tables.

Eyes were immediately on the young bushy haired witch as she nervously walked over to the Gryffindor table. She sat at the end of the table, trying to stay away from everyone else. She could feel the eyes on her, evaluating her, and questioning eachother about the strange new girl not wearing her Hogwarts robes.

Then she saw four young boys, a couple seats down. She knew who they were without a second of doubt, their faces were younger, but unmistakably the Marauders. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew were sitting just down the table from her, eyeing her intently.


	3. The Marauders

**Chapter 3: The Marauders**

Hermione was shocked when she saw the Marauders. Sure, she well aware of the possiblity of seeing people from her time, but she never gave much thought to the possibility of seeing _them_. They were so different, yet the same people she knew so well.

James was the spitting image of Harry, except, of course, his eyes. Sirius looked younger, his hair was shorter, and his body healthier, but he had the same face she knew so well. Remus looked happy, she couldn't help but smile when she saw the big grin on his face. He must have been so happy to be with his friends again at Hogwarts. Then there was Peter. Hermione's smile instantly turned to a grimace when she saw him. He looked fairly similar to his older self, he was small compared to the other boys, and seemed a bit scared of all the people in the great hall. Hermione decided that she couldn't hate him now, he hadn't done anything wrong yet.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" A girl sitting across the table from Hermione asked.

"What? Oh, y-yes, I'm fine." Hermione replied with a pale face, prying her eyes away from the Group of boys she had been staring at. She instead looked at the girl, she was about Hermione's age, and appeared to be concerned for her. Her hair was long and red, she was really quite beautiful.

"Are you sure? You look frightened."

"I'm fine, just a bit overwhelmed."

"Yeah, Hogwarts can do that to you. Are you new here?" The girl was looking at Hermione's t-shirt and jeans. Hermione stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the sea of black Hogwarts robes around her.

"Yes, I was homeschooled before, and I transfered here for my seventh year, my aunt works here." Hermione said the line she had rehearsed in her head several times.

"Really? I'm a seventh year too! My name's Lily." The girl said excitedly. Hermione's faace went flush once again as if she had seen a ghost. It was Harry's mum! She really needed to get a hold of herself. How did Dumbledore expect her to deal with this? Hermione decided she couldn't become friends with any of these people; it would risk changing the future, not to mention her sanity.

Hermione noticed an awkward silence was forming. She racked her brain for a response. "I'm Hermione." She wanted to slap herself for saying her real name, knowing that people from this time could meet her in the future and connect the dots that she was the same person.

Before they could talk anymore, Dumbledore interrupted them, beginning his speech. "Welcome everyone, to another year at Hogwarts." He continued saying the usual things she heard every year, he introduced some teachers, talked about the school, and began the sorting ceremony. Hermione noted that she hadn't seen most of the teachers before, but a few, she recognized, such as McGonagall, Pomfrey, Hagrid, and Slughorn.

The sorting began, and Hermione cheered for each student sorted into Gryffindor.

"If you're new here, how are you already sorted into Gryffindor?" A girl sitting next to Lily whispered while the hat was sorting one of the first years.

"Oh...I was sorted earlier, in Dumbledore's office. I just didn't want to go up with all the first years." Hermione said quickly, hoping her story sounded reasonable.

The girl nodded. Soon the sorting ended, and they all dug into the feast before them. Hermione found herself quite hungry, and she was ready for some delicious Hogwarts food. She piled food on her plate and tried not to talk to anyone, it wasn't that hard, Lily began talking to the girl next to her. Hermione found that a lot of the attention she earlier held was gone now.

"Hey Hermione, you said your aunt works here? Who is she?" Lily asked.

Hermione grew nervous, remembering Dumbledore's earlier instructions. How would they react when she said McGonagall was her aunt? "Um... Professor McGonagall."

"McGonagall?" The girl next to Lily said loudly, obviously quite shocked.

She felt a blush creeping up her cheeks as many eyes turned to her. She nodded and looked to the staff table, finding McGonagall in a conversation with Dumbledore. He was probably telling her all about the mad time traveler who had appeared at his office earlier.

"Woah, no wonder you got a private sorting ceremony and don't have to wear Hogwarts robes." The girl said in a surprised tone.

"Don't be so rude," Lily scolded her friend, "This is Marlene, by the way." She smiled back at Hermione.

Hermione looked to the dirty blond haired witch next to Lily. She knew Marlene's last name before anyone could tell her. It was obviously Marlene McKinnon, a member of the Order of the Phoenix who would be murdered by Death Eaters in a year or two.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said with the most normal smile she could muster.

"Hey, maybe you'll be sleeping in out dormitory!" Lily said excitedly, "Theres been an open bed for a couple years."

Hermione couldn't help but feel happy that Lily was so welcoming to her, "Maybe. I have to go talk to Professor Dumbledore after dinner so I can find out."

After a minute or two, the girls around her struck up an conversation and Hermione zoned out, returning to her own thoughs. Whenever she could, she snuck a look at the boys down the table, a couple times, she caught them looking back at her. Sirius even smiled at her once, causing an embarassing blush to overtake her face.

Soon, dinner ended, and Hermione filed out of the Great Hall. People were everywhere, pushing and shoving their way, trying to get to their dormitories while prefects yelled orders at the younger kids.

Hermione said goodbye to Lily and Marlene and began towards Dumbledore's office, but soon found that someone seemed to be following her. She turned around quickly, ready to tell the person off, but her plans were halted when she came face to face with one Sirius Black.

"Hello there," He said with a wry smile, "I'm Sirius Black," He outstreched a hand, waiting for her to shake it.

Hernione could feel her eyes widen and her mouth drop slightly when she saw him. After a second or two, she recovered slightly and shook his hand, managing a half-smile, "Hi." She said awkwardly.

He chuckled, "Are you going to tell me your name?"

She had to admit, the younger Sirius had a brilliant smile. "Oh, yes, I'm Hermione." She felt herself blushing.

"Well, It's very nice to meet you Hermione, I saw you at dinner and realised you're new here, right?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Well, I just wanted to welcome you to Hogwarts and see if you needed any help finding your way around."

"Thank you, but I think I can find my way," She smiled and began to walk away.

"Are you sure? Because the Gryffindor common room's this way," He said, pointing in the opposite direction, "You're in Gryffindor, right?"

"Yeah, I'm in Gryffindor, but I'm not going to the common room, I'm going to Dumbledore's office." She said, hoping that he wouldn't question her anymore.

"Oh, yeah, because you're McGonagall's niece?" He asked.

Hermione raised her eyebrows, "How do you know that?"

"Word gets around pretty quickly at Hogwarts," He said, shrugging his shoulders, "So it's true then?"

"Yes, it's true." Hermione said, biting her lip.

Sirius nodded, "Well then, if you know how to get to Dumbledore's office, I should be heading back to the common room. See you later, Hermione." And with that, Sirius turned to and began walking down the now empty corridor. She had to catch her breath for a moment after he left. The younger Sirius was quite handsome.

Hoping that nobody would try to talk to her again, Hermione rushed to Dumbedore's office where she found professor McGonagall waiting for her.

"Hello, you must be Hermione." The older witch said, smiling.

"Yes, Dumbledore told me to come see him after dinner." Hermione said nervously.

McGonagall nodded, "I know, he's told me all about you, he asked me to bring you upstairs."

"Alright," Hermione responded, wondering if McGonagall believed that she was a time traveler.

McGonagall said the password and motioned for Hermione to follow her up the stairs to Dumbledore's office.

They arrived in the grand office which seemed to have not changed a bit since the last time Hermione had been there. Dumbedore was sitting at his desk, a bowl of lemondrops in front of him, waiting for Hermione and McGonagall.

"Please, take a seat." Dumbledore said in a calm manner as the two witches entered the room.


	4. Gossip

**Chapter 4: Gossip**

"Miss Granger, as you probably know, I've told Professor McGonagall your story." Dumbledore said, sitting in his large chair, facing the two women across the desk from him.

"Yes," Hermione responded.

"How long do you think will you stay here, Hermione?" McGonagall asked.

Hermione looked down and studied the carpet, "I honestly don't know, this kind of thing has only ever happened twice before and even then it was only a couple minutes at the most. I haven't left yet, and I have an odd feeling I won't be leaving soon." Hermione said this calmly. She found herself slightly happy with the end, thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to stay here.

"Well then," Dumbledore began, "I think it would be wise for you to stay at Hogwarts for a while, enroll in your seventh year in this time." Hermione nodded. "If you happen to leave, and go back to your normal time, then we will know you are safe there. Meanwhile, make yourself at home, you're welcome to use the library for any research associated with this situation. We have a decent ammount of books on time travel, I believe."

"Thank you," Hermione grinned, thinking of getting back to the library, "But, Professor, there are certain people... in this time... That I know from the future. What if I mess up the timeline by being here?" Hermione said hesitantly.

"I doubt many people will remember you twenty years in the future, but just in case, you may want to change your name." He suggested.

Hermione frowned and bit her lip, "I've already told someone my name is Hermione, could I just change my last name?"

"Of course, that would work. Any preference?"

"Jean," she responded with a slight smile, "It's my middle name."

"Alright then, Miss Jean." Dumbledore smiled, "And as for the people you know from the future: don't reveal anything about them, pretend as if you don't know them."

"Hermione," McGonagall interjected, "about how many people here do you know?" She sounded curious and very interested in Hermione's situation. McGonagall seemed to hold a new level of respect for Hermione, a type of respect replaced by strictness in the future.

"A lot," Hermione said quietly, "Students and teachers both, and I'm sure I'll meet more people I know."

"Albus, what of the war, what if she can help us?" McGonagall asked, turning to Dumbledore, "You-Know-Who is getting stronger, maybe she is just the person we need."

"Minevra, it would be very unwise of us to use her. Time is not such an easy thing to change." Dumbledore said.

"I've used a time turner before, in my third year. I used it to take more classes. I understand the rules of time travel. Maybe I could change things," Hermione hesitated for a moment, "bad things are going to happen, really bad things. And I can change them." She began comtemplating all the possibilities. She could save Harry's parents! She could bring down Voldemort, she could save so many lifes that would be lost to the war.

Dumbedore shook his head, "We mustn't change time. Hermione, however much you may want to change things, save people, or hurt others, you cannot do so. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course." Hermione said, letting her earlier thoughts leave her mind.

"Very well, Minevra, is there room in the Gryffindor dormitories for Hermione?" Dumbledore turned to McGonagall once again.

McGonagall thought for a moment, "Yes, we happen to have an open bed in the seventh year girls dormitory. The password is Tumultuous."

"Wonderful," Dumbedore smiled, "Hermione, you may stay here at Hogwarts as long as you need. I will have a trunk sent up to your dormitory with some robes."

"Thank you, professor." Hermione smiled back, "Also, I would like to do some research on my situation, could I use the library?"

"Yes, of course," Dumbedore assured her, "And if you ever need access to the restricted section, Professor McGonagall will write you a pass." He looked to professor McGonagall, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Thank you." Hermione began to get up to leave before Dumbledore spoke again.

"Oh, and one more thing," Dumbledore said, "You do not have to distance yourself from people as I believe you may do. Make friends, live out you childhood while you can."

Hermione nodded, "Thank you, professor."

She left quickly, smiling at each of them and exiting down the staircase. As she walked to the common room, she considered what Dumbledore said about making friends. She couldn't make friends, especially with people she knew in the future. Even if Dumbledore said it was okay, she was sure it would mess up the timeline in some way.

"Hermione!" Lily said with a welcoming smile as the portrait swung open and Hermione entered the common room.

Hermione couldn't help grinning, Lily was just so friendly. It would definitely be hard to push her away. "Hi Lily." Hermione smiled back.

Lily got up from the couch in front of the fireplace where Marlene and a couple other girls sat next to her. "Follow me, I have to show you our dormitory," she said, leading Hermione up the stairs. As the two girls walked through the common room, Hermione couldn't help but notice four boys sitting in the corner. James and Sirius were both watching the two witches ascend the stairs.

"One of the house elves stopped by earlier with your trunk, so I knew you'd be staying here." Lily turned to one of the beds by the window, motioning towards it, "here we are!"

Hermione took a seat on the large bed. It felt so familiar, the room hadn't changed a bit in the twenty years. It was good to be back.

Lily sat down on a bed across from Hermione. "So how do you like the school so far?"

"I love it," Hermione remebered her first night at the castle, when she was eleven, "It's gorgeous, I can't wait to spend the year here. And all the people are amazing." She grinned.

"Yeah, everybody here is really nice. You'll make the best friends." Lily grinned.

"I was wondering," Hermione began, "Who are those four boys, that Sirius guy, one with the glasses, and the other with the scars on his face?" She tried to pretend she didn't know them, and it wasn't hard to describe them.

Lily rolled her eyes, obviously annoyed, "Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. A bunch of gits if you ask me. How did you know Sirius' name?"

"He came up to me in the corridor after dinner," Hermione furrowed her eyebrow, "just started talking to me."

"You should be careful of him, he's Marlene's ex. In fact, be careful of all of them, they cause too much trouble to be any good." Lilly frowned.

"Oh come on, they can't be that bad." Hermione argued, "What about the glasses boy-"

"-James." Lily interjected.

"Yeah, James," Hermione continued, "He can't be that bad. I saw him looking at you in the common room."

Lily nodded, looking quite irritated, "He's asked me out at least a million times over the past few years. I've always said no, of course."

"Why?" Hermione asked. She knew she shouldn't try to play matchmaker. But why not help them out if she knew they were going to end up together?

"He's immature, and doesn't know how to treat people right." Lily said, studying the hem of her robe.

Hermione had a feeling Lily was talking about Snape, and how James bullied him. "Maybe he's grow up. You haven't seen him since last year, right?"

"Yeah," Lily nodded, "but I doubt he's changed much." She said stubbornly.

The two witches continued to talk for a while, eventually, Marlene joined them from the common room.

"What are your friends like back home, Hermione?" Lily asked.

"Oh they're great." Hermione smiled, thinking of Harry, Ginny and the others.

"Any romance?" Marlene said, waggling her eyebrows.

Hermione and Lily laughed slightly, but Hermione's smile soon turned to a frown. "I had a boyfriend." She looked out the window, not feeling like making eye contact with the girls, "He broke up with me..." She trailed off, a sad expression in her eyes.

"Oh," Marlene said quietly.

The conversation changed topics as a few more girls entered. They gossiped about all kinds of things, and Hermione didn't involve herself in the conversation much. Eventually, she fell asleep, forgetting all her troubles and dreaming of her first full day back at Hogwarts tomorrow.


	5. First Day

**Chapter 5: First Day**

Hermione's first week back at Hogwarts seemed to take forever to pass. She tried to seclude herself as much as possible, but it was difficult.

The first day of school was overwhelming to say the least.

Hermione started off going to breakfast late, after urging Lily to go ahead without her. She had to magically adjust the size of her new robes before leaving. Once she arrived at the Great Hall, everyone was almost done. She ate quickly, and managed to find her schedule for the day.

Dumbledore had managed to give her quite a nice schedule. She had Advanced Potions immediately after breakfast, and then Advanced Transfiguration and Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. She had mentioned her academic achievements to Dumbledore the previous night, but she hadn't expected him to put her in all these advanced classes.

The bushy haired witch hurried her way to the Potions room she knew so well. For a moment, she expected to see Professor Snape sitting at his desk, preparing to teach the lesson. Instead of Snape at the desk, it was a younger looking Slughorn.

Hermione smiled at Slughorn and sat down at an empty table, watching the rest of the students enter. The Potions class was Gryffindor and Slytherin, that much was obvious to her as she saw the mix of green and red. There was one boy, a Slytherin that looked oddly familiar to her. It wasn't until he picked his head up and scowled at one Gryffindor that she recognized him. It was Snape. Of course he would be in this class, he was destined to be in Advanced Potions. He looked fairly different, his eyes seemed a bit brighter, but not much. His face also wasn't as hollow, but his hair was the same greasy black she remembered.

"Hello, do you mind?" A boy said, calling Hermione's eyes away from Snape. "All the other seats are taken and I don't really want to sit with a Slytherin." He chuckled slightly.

Hermiones brown eyes grew wide when she saw him, she had to fight to keep a semi-calm expression on her face. "Yes, of course," She said, moving her bag from the seat to the floor. This was going to be a long day.

Remus Lupin smiled kindly and took a seat next to her, unpacking a quill and his textbook from his bag. "You're new here, right?" he asked with a grin. He seemed so much happier these days. Maybe that was just because the full moon was in three weeks and he had a while to go.

"Yeah, this is my first day." Hermione managed a smile.

"I'm Remus Lupin." He introduced himself.

"Hermione G-" She caught herself, "Jean, I'm Hermione Jean."

Hermione couldn't tell if maybe he didn't notice her slip up or he was just pretending not to. But he smiled and nodded as Professor Slughorn called the students' attention.

"Quiet down please," Slughorn began, assigning them to make a Hiccuping Potion. It was a review from last year, so Hermione knew it would be an easy task.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far?" Remus asked, setting up his cauldron and preparing some ingredients.

"It's beautiful, I love it." Hermione replied, she was becoming quite sick of being asked this question. She wanted to tell all these people that she had been going to Hogwarts for six years before they came along... Or rather, before she was thrown back in time.

"That's nice, I've heard that you've got some connections with the professors." He said, a shy grin on his face.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "yes, I'm related to McGonagall, and I suppose you heard it from Sirius Black."

He laughed, "Yes, Sirius did inform me of that. Sorry, it seems like you're a bit annoyed with it."

"Well, it's just odd that everyone knows who I am." She admitted while dropping some Helleborn into her potion.

"Yeah, I understand." He was silent for a moment, "Sirius can be very... forward sometimes, and you might hear some bad things about him, but he's really a great guy." Remus continued.

Hermione smiled, it was nice to hear Remus defending his friend. "I believe you," she said, continuing on making her potion.

The rest of Potions went well, Hermione and Remus both had excellent potions according to Slughorn, but apparently Snape had an "astounding talent for potion brewing." Hermione could have sworn she saw Snape give Remus a triumphant eyebrow raise when Slughorn said that.

Hermione parted ways with Remus after Potions and continued to her next class, Transfiguration. This was the class she had been most anxious for. McGonagall was teaching it. Would the other students know of her relation to McGonagall?

"Hermione!" Lily called from across the room as she entered. "I didn't know you were in this class." She said with a large grin.

"Well, I didn't see you at breakfast, so we didn't have time to compare schedules." Hermione said with a shrug, sitting next to Lily.

"It's great anyways, I thought nobody would be brave enough to take Advanced Transfiguration with me." Lily said. Hermione looked around. There were also Ravenclaws littering the room, chatting casualy. It already seemed like a hard class, but Hermione knew she could handle it.

"So how was your first class?" Lily asked, curiosity lighting up her face.

"It was good," Hermione said, zoning out slightly as McGonagall entered the room. All she could do was hope that McGonagall wouldn't say anything to make her stand out.

Luckily, McGonagall pretended it was any normal class, only addressing Hermione as "Miss Jean" whenever she raised her hand. Lily seemed very smart, and avidly paid attention to McGonagall throughout the lesson.

Soon, Transfiguration ended and both Lily and Hermione were off for lunch. It foiled Hermione's plans slightly, she had been looking forward to going to the library and finding time travel books. But now she couldn't just tell Lily that, and she couldn't lie and say she was going to study, they had nothing to study for. Thus, Hermione was forced to go the Great Hall with Lily and sit near Marlene, down the table from the Marauders. Remus smiled at her when she sat down, and she returned it.

As soon as she sat down, Lily and Marlene struck up a conversation about their Charms class together. Hermione talked casually with them, but for the most part, tried to distance herself. It was scary to think how she was already so close to these people, and almost every one of them was dead in the future...

* * *

"Hello, you must be Hermione, I'm professor Benz." The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher introduced himself, shaking Hermione's hand. He was a tall, slim man, with short grey-ish brown hair. She had to admit, he didn't look like the DADA type.

"It's nice to meet you," Hermione smiled, evaluating the teacher, and wondering why she hadn't heard of him in the future. Was he going to die too?

"It's very nice to meet you too. Now, why don't we find you a seat," his eyes scanned the classroom of Gryffindors and Slytherins, "Ah, let's put you with Mr. Black over here. He's a very smart boy, and quite talented in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Of course the teacher would make her sit with Sirius, it was just her luck. She turned to him and found him grinning like a little kid back at her. His long black hair fell loose around his face and his eyes seemed bright without the ghosts that would later haunt him.

Hermione walked slowly over to him and gave him a half smile.

"So, Hermione, you're in Advanced DADA?" He asked, eyebrows raised.

"Yes, and it seems that you are too." Hermione said, testing out a quill on some spare parchment.

"You know, you never told me your last name."

"Jean," Hermione said, this time she managed the correct name.

"Hermione Jean... I don't know," He said, resting his elbow on the desk and his chin on hand, "I feel like the name doesn't fit you right."

Hermione was growing irritated, "Well that's my name." She said in a snappy tone.

Sirius backed off, raising his hands in defence, "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything." It was odd, he didn't seem like the type to apoligize for joking around like that.

"No I'm sorry, I'm just a bit overwhelmed." Hermione said, not wanting to get off on the wrong foot with him.

"It's okay, I understand how it can be on your first day." He said.

Professor Benz began the lesson, lecturing most of the time, and laying out their plan for the year. Near the end of class, he let them chat for a while until class was over.

"So, I saw you hanging out with Evans and Marlene." Sirius said, turning to Hermione again.

Hermione nodded, packing up her stuff. "Yeah, they're really nice."

"Mmmhmm." Sirius mumbled. Hermione could tell he was inwardly debating whether to say something. He ended up not mentioning it.

Hermione guessed It was probably about his relationship with Marlene. Lily had informed Hermione that she was his ex-girlfriend. She was surprised to feel a slight twinge of jealousy when thinking of the two of them together. Why would she be jealous?

"So how do you like professor Benz?" Sirius asked, trying to keep the conversation up.

"He seems smart, kind of awkward if you asks me." Hermione replied quietly.

Sirius chuckled, "Yeah, really awkward. Once my friends and I caught him flirting with Madam Pomfrey- she's the nurse here. It was literally one of the funniest trainwrecks I've ever seen."

Hermione began giggling as quietly as she could manage. It was a funny thing to imagine Professor Binz flirting with Madam Pomfrey.

"Hey Sirius," a high female voice said from behind Hermione. She turned to find a Slytherin girl with slick black hair and a slight scowl.

"Hello, Anika." Sirius greeted her, seemingly annoyed.

"I saw you managed to make a new friend, and I thought I'd introduce myself." She said with a grin, "I'm Anika Fritz." She said, looking at Hermione.

"Hermione Jean," She smiled in return, trying to read this girl's expression. Anika seemed to be evaluating her, looking her up and down.

"It that all?" Sirius said, making his agitation obvious.

"No, Regulus wanted me to tell you that he'll see you on the Quidditch pitch." Anika smirked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked.

"He's trying out for Seeker this year. We all know you and Potter are going down." And with that, Anika strutted back to her Slytherin friends.

Hermione turned to Sirius, a confused expression on her face. Before she cold say anything, the bell rang and Sirius stood up.

"Look, I've gotta go," Sirius said, slinging his bag over his shoulder, "I'll see you later, maybe in the common room tonight." Sirius left quickly, obviously still angry.

Hermione exited the classroom with many questions filling her mind. She hadn't known Sirius played Quidditch, or his brother, Regulus for that matter. She was also quite curious about the previous relationship between Sirius and Anika, they obviously knew each other well.

Hermione now had some free time before dinner, she decided to head to the library, and start her research on time travel. She was glad to have time for some reading, she really needed to find out what was going on and when she would be back home.


	6. Lemon Drops and Love Potions

**Chapter 6: Lemon Drops and Love Potions**

Hermione walked swiftly down the bright corridor. Transfiguration had just ended and now she was walking to Dumbledore's office. It had been a week since she arrived here, and now, as promised, she had to go see Dumbledore again

Her week had gone by slow, she spent most of her time in the library, looking through time travel books, and finding some interesting information. She spent almost no time in the common room, mostly because the Marauders were usually there and she wanted to spend as little time with them as she could.

The previous friday, Professor Slughorn informed them of their first test in Potions. Hermione and Remus decided on meeting in the library to study. After her meeting with Dumbledore, Hermione would meet with Remus.

"Sugar Quills," Hermione said, reciting the password. As expected, the statue began to move, and Hermione walked up the stairs.

"Hello, Miss Jean." Dumbledore smiled as she entered, "please have a seat. Would you like a lemon drop?"

"No thank you, Professor." Hermione smiled, sitting down.

"So how was your first week?"

"It was alright," Hermione said, thinking of the past several days, "It's still odd to be here, but I'm growing used to it."

Dumbledore nodded, "I'm glad to hear it. Professor McGonagall has told me that she is very happy to have you in class. She says you are a smart girl."

Hermione blushed slightly, "thank you."

"And how has that research been coming along? Madame Pince tells me you are a frequent to the library."

"Yes, I have found some interesting information, but it is spotty at best. I have a couple books referencing half-written journals of Witches or Wizards who have traveled in time. One of them seems similar to my case, a man who frequently used a time turner throughout his life. One day he just disappeared." Hermione said this quietly, remembering the missing man, "I think that him and I have similar cases."

Dumbledore began to stroke his beard, pondering this for a while, "This is very interesting. I encourage you to keep up the research, Miss Jean."

"I will," Hermione nodded.

"Yes, wonderful. Now, another thing," Dumbledore paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to go about saying things, "I've noticed that you have meet Sirius Black, and his friends."

A puzzled expression crossed Hermione's face, "Oh... yes, I know them."

"From the future as well, I presume." Dumbedore said it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Hermione's eyes widened, "Y-yes, how did you know?"

"I've seem the way you act around them, and the first night, at dinner. McGonagall told me that you appeared to have seen a ghost after seeing them." He explained.

Hermione looked at the ground, remembering the way it felt to see them for the first time. Then she remembered them in her own time, all the funerals and dead bodies.

"You don't have to distance youself so much." The old wizard said, "Make friends, enjoy your time here." It was almost as if Dumbledore knew that she was unhappy with life in her old time. As if he knew everything had been falling apart, and he wanted her to be happy here, in this time.

"Okay." Hermione said, picking her head up.

"Is there anything else I can help you with, then?" He asked.

Hermione shook her head.

"Alright then," Dumbledore smiled, "good luck on your first Potions test."

Hermione smiled, it was always strange how Dumbledore seemed to know everything. "Thank you, Professor."

She smiled as she descended the stairs, finding herself quite excited to be studying with Remus. She just had to let the images of his dead body leave her mind.

The library was fairly empty, the only others occupying it were a group of Ravenclaws and a couple Hufflepuffs. It took a while for Hermione to find Remus, she had to scour many rows of bookshelves to find his table. There was Remus, quietly sitting at a table in a small alcove, with multiple books open in front of him.

"Hi," Hermione whispered, pulling up a chair across from Remus.

He looked up and grinned, "Hello."

"Let's get some studying done," Hermione grinned back, taking out her textbook and a sheet of paper.

"I've got a books on love potions here, we need to know those," said Remus, pointing to a worn out book to his right, "and then veritaserum here," He pointed to a significantly larger book.

They began studying for several minutes, quizzing eachother and skimming over books. They were uninterrupted until another boy came along, one with long black hair, and a cheeky grin spread across his face.

Remus looked up from his book, seeing the approaching wizard, "Sirius?" He questioned, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

"Hello there, Moony," Sirius grinned, sitting down beside Hermione, "Hello, Hermione." It was the first time Hermione hear them use their nicknames.

"Hi," Hermione said, also quite confused.

"Sirius... Why are you here?" Remus questioned, "Not to be rude or anything, but you never come to the library."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I've come to study!" He leaned forward and grabbed the book on Veritaserum, eyes scanning the page, "eh... Okay, maybe I didn't come to study."

Hermione pulled the book back from him, "so why did you come here?"

Sirius seemed to remember the reason, he turned to Hermione, "I saw you going to Dumbledore's office. Why were you there?"

Hermione searched her mind for an accepteble answer. "Just, talking... You know... He wanted to know how I liked the school and everything." She knew it was a lame excuse.

Sirius didn't question it, only nodding.

"Alright, If that's all, we need to continue studying." Remus said.

"Go ahead," Sirius motioned for them to continue, "I'm not stopping you."

Hermione and Remus returned to what they had previously been doing: quizzing eachother on Love Potions.

"What are the ingredients?" Hermione asked.

"Peppermint, Rose thorns, powdered moonstone, and..." Remus thought for a moment, "Ashwinder eggs!"

"Correct. Odor?"

"Depends. It can differ from person to person."

"Right again. Who invented it?"

"Laverne De Montmorency."

"You know," Sirius interjected, "Once James, Peter, Remus and I slipped Flitwick a love potion," Sirius and Remus began to laugh a bit at this point, "We had Hagrid give it to him."

Both Sirius and Remus broke into a fit of laughter. Hermione even had to giggle a little, at the two of them, and the insanity of their prank. Madame Pince even stuck her head around the corner to shush them.

"Can you imagine?" Sirius said between guffaws, "Flitwick in love with Hagrid?"

"He wrote him a poem, and gave him some chocolates," Remus said, managing to stifle his laughter enough to talk, "the poor little guy."

Another scolding from Madame Pince.

"You boys are horrible," Hermione said, rolling her eyes and laughing slightly, "How did they cure it?"

"Hagrid eventually dragged Flitwick to Pomfrey who cured him." Remus explained, calming down.

"Good times." Sirius said, exhaling deeply and leaning back in his chair.

"Alright, Sirius, time to go," Remus said, "we need to study our Veritaserum now."

"Are you sure you don't want to hear about that time we gave everyone in the great hall Veritaserum?" Sirius asked Hermione, still smiling from ear to ear.

"No, I'm sure she doesn't." Remus answered for Hermione, shooing Sirius away.

Sirius snorted and left their little alcove.

Hermione was grinning, just imagining the chaos they had caused with that prank. "Hey! I want to hear that story!" She whispered loudly.

Remus rolled his eyes which were focused on the book in his hands, "Maybe another time." He mumbled. A hint of a smirk still remained on his face.


	7. Date?

**Chapter 7: Date?**

"Pages 62 to 75, everyone!" Professor Benz announced the reading they were to do in class.

Hermione cracked open her DADA book and turned to the assigned page. Next to her, Sirius did the same thing, and they both began to read.

"Hermione," Sirius whispered, "Hey Hermione."

"What?" She whispered in response, turning to look at professor Benz and check if he wasn't looking. Luckily, he was hunched over his desk, lost in his own world of grading papers

"You know how Hogsmeade is coming up?" He was grinning.

Hermione nodded, Lily and her had a conversation about the upcoming weekend at breakfast that morning.

"Well, how would you like to go with a certain devilishly handsome young gentleman named Sirius Black?" He said it like it was a prize to be won.

Hermione laughed a little at his charisma, but then realized what he was asking, "Like... A date?"

Sirius shrugged, "Yeah, if you want to call it that. We can hang out, I'll show you all around Hogsmeade. We can go and meet the boys at this place called Hogs Head, Remus will be there, and I can introduce you to James and Peter." Hermione stiffened up at Peter's name.

She didn't know what to say. She couldn't go on a date with Sirius! It was wrong, he was almost twenty years older than her in the future. But, of course, in this time, he was the same age as her. "Sirius, it's a bit early, don't you think? The first Hogsmeade weekend is a month away."

"Yeah, it's a ways away, but I just didn't want anyone else to get the prettiest girl in school before I did." He flashed her a charming grin and batted his eyebrows like a little girl.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You don't want anyone else to _get _me? So I'm an object now?"

Sirius' eyes grew wide, "No, that's not what I meant!" He defended himself in a whisper.

Hermione decided it was best to not let her temper flare, it was just a misunderstanding. Besides, when he smiled like that, it was hard to stay mad at him. "It's fine, Sirius."

He smiled, "So... Do you want to go with me?"

She thought for a moment. Should she say no? He would probably ask why, and she couldn't just explain that she was from the future where he was dead. "I don't know, I'll think about it." Hermione finally answered.

Sirius seemed happy with that answer and grinned.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to finish the reading." Hermione said, returning her eyes to the book.

* * *

It was the next day that Hermione nervously walked into the great hall to get breakfast. Lily was sick, she came down with a fever the previous night and Madame Pomfrey told her to sleep through her morning classes.

Now, Hermione was alone and honestly didn't know where to sit. She spotted Marlene talking with some other girls, but really didn't feel like sitting with her today. Hermione finally just decided to head to the end of the table and sit alone.

"Hermione, m'dear!" An arm wrapped around her shoulder, pulling her away from her path to the secluded spot.

"Oh!" Hermione let out a surprised gasp and looked to see that it was Sirius with his arm around her. Of course it was Sirius, it was always Sirius.

"Come sit with me and the boys why don't you?" Sirius said cheerfully.

"Um, well, I was actually-" She began to make an excuse.

"What? You were going to sit with Marlene? Trust me, that girl is trouble." Sirius continued.

Hermione prepared to argue, but decided it wasn't worth it. What was the hurt in sitting with Sirius for one day?

Sirius guided her down the table to where the other boys sat, laughing and eating their breakfast. There was Remus, and then James and Peter, deeply immersed in their conversation.

Suddenly, James' head snapped up and noticed Hermione, a grin spread across his face, "Ah, Padfoot, so this is the girl you and Moony have been talking about." Hermione saw Remus blush across the table. "James Potter," James stood up from his seat, and outstretched his hand. Why did they always shake hands?

"Hermione," The witch introduced herself, shaking his hand and smiling.

"This is Peter," Sirius pointed to the smaller boy, smiling at Hermione.

She inhaled sharply. "Hi," she breathed, a forced smile on her face. She had to control herself, she couldn't change the past And lash out at Peter. He hadn't done anything for Voldemort yet... At least she hoped he hadn't.

"Hey," He replied, confused by her apprehension.

"You'll be glad to sit with us Hermione, we're the best people you'll ever meet." Sirius grinned.

"Oi, Sirius, stop being so narcissistic." Remus chided, giving Hermione an apoligetic smile.

Hermione sat down with the boys, and she had to admit, they were very entertaining.

"Quittich tryouts Friday!" James beamed, playfully punching Sirius in the arm.

Sirius hooted in excitement.

"What positions do you guys play?" She said, pretending she didn't know James was the best Seeker around.

"Seeker," James replied just as she expected, "and Sirius is a beater."

"Hermione, you'll love watching Quittich here, Gryffindor kicks arse!" Sirius barked.

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him, "way to be modest." He was quite cocky around his friends.

"It's true, though," Remus added, "we're expecting a great season this year."

"Do you play?" Hermione questioned.

Remus shook his head, "No. However, I am forced to attend every game with Peter. So we know what's going on."

"You're not _forced_ to go, you know you love it." James argued.

Remus rolled his eyes and continued eating.

"So Hermione," James focused on her, "who have you been sitting with during meals around here? I haven't seen you around."

Hermione grinned slightly, expecting to get a strong reaction out of James, "I've been hanging out with Lily Evans mostly."

James' eyes widened, "Evans?"

Hermione nodded as Sirius chuckled next to her, "James loves Evans." He whispered.

James seemed to be struggling with what to say next, "Look," he finally said, "I've been trying to get Lily to go out with me forever. But she thinks I'm some immature pig!"

"Which he is definitely not." Remus interjected, motioning to James' messy plate and the voracious way he ate.

The group laughed as James continued, "Anyways, she's got the wrong idea about me. Maybe you could talk to her? Get her to consider me?"

Hermione smiled, "I'll talk to her."

James beamed, "Hermione! My savior!" Then he raised his glass and cheered, "To Hermione!"

The witch in question blushed as people around gave them confused looks.

"Alright, alright, enough, boys." She chided, surprised at how much she sounded like Molly Weasley.

They continued talking animatedly throughout dinner. Hermione had fun, more fun than she had in a while. Peter was surprisingly quiet, maybe he sensed her dislike towards him. They talked about a multitude of things, and Hermione forgot about all her worries, from Lily being sick to being stuck in the past. Hermione just forgot. At the end of the meal, she could have sworn she saw Dumbledore grin at her from the staff table. At least he was happy she was friends with them.


	8. The Pulling Down of Pants

**Chapter 8: The Pulling Down of Pants**

The day after Hermione ate breakfast with the boys, Lily was back at school, and healthy as ever. That morning in transfiguration, she had leaned over to ask Hermione a question.

"Want to meet me in the common room tonight?" She whispered.

Hermione gave the red head a puzzled look, "why?" It wasn't a common meeting place for them.

Lily shrugged, "You know, we can hang out and study if you want. You barely ever hang out in the common room, you're always off in the library."

"Ladies," McGonagall interrupted, "Quiet." She scolded.

Hermione blushed, she had always hated being in trouble with a teacher, even in the slightest bit. It was even more awkward since McGonagall was her 'aunt'. Lily seemed embarassed as well, returning her eyes to the parchment in front of her. Eventually, however, she nudged Hermione again. "Will you come?" She asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

Hermione considered it. Hanging out in the common room couldn't be that bad, right? The only reason she had avoided it before was because of the marauders who often hung out there. But now she was on good terms with the friendly boys after eating breakfast with them. She also wanted to talk to Lily about Sirius, and how he had asked her out to Hogsmeade. "Sure," Hermione whispered to her friend. Then they continued to work in silence for the remainder of the class.

By that evening, Hermione hadn't recieved much homework, except a transfiguration essay which was due in a few days. But she could talk to Lily about that when they met in the common room.

Hermione recited the password and entered the large common room filled with kids. It was welcoming, the fireplace crackled as flames danced within, and the setting sun could be seen through the windows. Lily sat alone on a couch in front of the fireplace. Hermione had to admit, she was relieved Marlene wasn't there. The girl intimidated her, and she also wanted to get Lily alone to talk about Sirius. Marlene probably wouldn't like to hear that Sirius, being her ex boyfriend, asked Hermione to Hogsmead.

It was nice to be able to hang out in the common room again. She had missed her evenings spent there, reading and studying while Harry and Ron played chess beside her. She could almost see them sitting at the small table in front of the fire, contenplating their next move. It struck a chord within her heart. She missed them, she had almost forgotten about them recently.

"Hey Lily," Hermione greeted her friend, sitting down next to her and feeling the warmth of the fire. It was a nice feeling, especially since time was passing and the temperature seemed to be dropping. Summer was ending.

"Hermione!" Lily's eyes brightened up, "did you hear what happened to that Ravenclaw girl?"

"No," Hermione said in a concerned voice, sensing that something was wrong, "what happened?"

The corners of Lily's lips turned down in a frown, "Her parents were attacked... Death Eaters." She seemed quite worried, "I assume you've heard of the Death Eaters?"

Hermione nodded, feeling the blood drain from her face. This was bad. Voldemort was already on the rise, attacking families. It made the war seem so much closer to them. "Did they survive?" She questioned in a grave tone.

Lily nodded, "Barely," she breathed, "They were muggles, the girl- her name's Helen- she's a muggleborn."

Hermione paled even more. Muggleborns were being attacked. Lily obviously seemed very distressed. "Well, at least they're going to be okay." She tried to lighten the mood.

"Yeah," Lily forced a smile, "Anyways, what are you writing the Transfiguration essay about?"

Hermione began to explain the concept of her intricate essay to Lily, who listened intently. Before she could get very far into explaining, however, the girls were interrupted.

James Potter approached them with Peter Pettigrew following closely behind. He walked confidently, a grin on his face as he came nearer to the two witches.

"Here we go again." Lily murmured under her breath. Hermione had to stifle a giggle.

"Hello Evans, Hermione." James greeted them, sitting down on the armchair next to the couch. Peter walked over to the other armchair to sit.

Hermione smiled, "Hi James," she stiffened slightly, "hi Peter." She said it in a cold tone. Lily and James both seemed to notice the way she treated Peter.

"Hi," Lily said quietly.

"So, Lily, I have an important question to ask you." James said with confidence.

"And what would that be?" Lily inquired, seeming to already know what the question would be.

"I was wondering," James began, "if you wanted to maybe go to Hogsmeade with me?" His confidence seemed to falter a bit.

Lily rolled her eyes. Hermione knew she would say no, but before she could decline, Hermione interrupted her.

"Lily will think about it." Hermione interjected.

James grinned, "thats good enough for me!" And with that, he stood up, beckoning for Peter to follow him away.

Lily shot her eyes toward Hermione, "What was that for?" She demanded, "I don't want to go to Hogsmeade with him!"

"You think you don't Lily, but honestly, how bad could it be? He's not that horrible of a person." Hermione argued. She figured at least she could play matchmaker a little bit. Lily and James were bound to get together eventually.

"But why does that give you the right to answer for me?" Lily asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want you to say no when you should consider it." She decided to tell Lily about Sirius now, "You know, Sirius actually asked me to Hogsmeade too."

"WHAT?" She almost screamed, "Why didn't you tell me? Did you say yes?" Lily seemed almost... Excited at the thought of Hermione and Sirius going on a date.

"I told him I'd consider it." Hermione answered.

Lily almost exploded. She seemed to turn into one of those gossipy girls. She had a definite resemblance to Ginny. "You have to say yes!"

"Why? I thought you said all of them are nothing but trouble?" Hermione questioned with a smirk.

"I know... But I've been considering it, and you guys are perfect together!" Lily was quite excited.

"Alright, I'll make you a deal," Hermione began, "If you go with James, I'll go with Sirius."

Lily contemplated it for a moment, "Fine, but he better not expect a second date."

Both the girls began giggling, and discussing what their expectations were for the upcoming Hogsmeade weekend.

* * *

"Oi! The mail's here." James said excitedly, pointing to the owls flying overhead.

"Yeah, Prongs, the mail comes every morning." Sirius said dryly.

James rolled his eyes, "I know that, I'm expecting a letter from home."

Hermione sat in between Lily and Sirius at the large Gryffindor table of the great hall. It was breakfast, and the first day Lily and Hermione had both come to sit with the Marauders. After deciding that they would both be going to Hogsmeade, Hermione and Lily agreed that they could sit with the marauders at least some days. Lily had saved a seat for Marlene, but the girl decided to go sit with some other Gryffindors instead.

When Lily and Hermione agreed to go to Hogsmeade with the boys, both Sirius and James were overjoyed. Well, James was more excited than Sirius, who always appeared laid back. But they were both delighted and excited for the upcoming weekend.

"What are you expecting?" Peter asked. Just then, a large silver owl swooped down and dropped off a letter in front of James.

James opened the letter and grinned as he read it over. "Just a letter from my mum and dad."

Sirius looked to Hermione and Lily, "James gets a bloody letter from home every day," He seemed a bit irritated, and Hermione could guess it was something to do with his family situation. "I personally don't see the point in staying in touch with parents. They're just gonna disown you in the end of something." He mumbled the last part.

"Sirius just gets grumy thinking about his parents." Remus explained to the girls.

"What happened?" Hermione questioned, pretending not to know the answer, "If you don't mind me asking."

"It's fine," Sirius shook his head, "My parents are big supporters of purebloods, they hate Muggles, Muggleborns, and anyone who doesn't support their beliefs. After I was sorted into Gryffindor I became their least favorite child."

"His little brother, Regulus, is in Slytherin," James interjected, pointing to the Slytherin table. Hermione looked over and spotted a boy that was definitely Regulus Black. His long black hair framed an aristocratic jaw line and coal black eyes. Regulus chatted casually alongside the other Slytherins, he definitely played the part well.

"My parents love Reg." Sirius continued, "Last year I left home, and went to live with James. I've been living with the Potters ever since. Wonderful family, they are."

James grinned at Sirius, and patted him on the back.

"What about your family, Hermione?" Sirius asked curiously. "What are they like?"

Hermione stiffened up slightly. "Well, my parents are muggles, and I'm an only child," She paused, realizing that she couldn't just tell them that she obliviated and sent her parents off to Australia and their memory never came back. But she didn't want to lie to these people, who had opened up to her and become her only friends. "I don't live with my parents... They left about a year ago... Without me."

The rest of the table could sense her discomfort on the issue. "Who are you living with?" James inquired.

Hermione searched her mind for an acceptable answer, "I've been staying with my aunt," She paused, searching their faces for acceptace, "You know, McGonagall."

The boys nodded, seeming to accept her story. Lily sent Hermione a nice smile and Sirius slung an arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. "Do you guys want to hear about how our first Quidditch practice went? It was pretty funny." Sirius began with a grin, lightening the mood.

"Yeah," Peter replied excitedly. Hermione had forgotten he was sitting with them, since he head been so quiet.

Sirius began to chuckle and explain a story in which he pulled down James' pants while they were practicing. "The whole team saw!" Sirius snorted out.

Lily and Hermione both began to giggle as James glared at Sirius, "I'm gonna get you back for it Padfoot. I always get my revenge."

"I'd like to see you try, mate." Sirius retorted.


	9. Crossing Lines

**Chapter 9: Crossing Lines**

"Where's Remus?" Hermione inquired over breakfast with the boys and Lily.

Sirius' eyes darted up to Hermione, then he looked to James and Peter. "He's sick." The young wizard finally responded. Hermione searched his face, wondering why he had acted so strange.

"Oh, that's too bad," Lily said, focusing on her food, "I hope he gets better."

Then it clicked for Hermione. It was the full moon! How could she have forgotten? She had completely ignored the fact that Remus was a werewolf. She was rather surprised that she had stored that information away in the back of her head. Thinking back, Hermione realized how much she had distanced herself from the memories of the future. She really needed to concentrate more.

* * *

Students filed into the potions classroom as Slughorn greeted them. Hermione chewed on her lip, considering if Slughorn would just let her work alone while Remus wasn't there.

"Hmmmm, Mr. Lupin isn't here today?" Slughorn observed, "Ms. Jean, why don't you work with Severus? He usually works alone, but I'm sure the two of you can get along together."

Hermione's eyes darted wide open. She had to work with Snape?

Snape must have given Slughorn and angry look, because the the teacher spoke again, "Oh Severus, it's not that bad, Ms. Jean is quite talented. I'm sure she can keep up with your advanced skills."

Hermione blushed as Snape came over to sit next to her. Well this certainly was awkward.

He completely ignored her as Slughorn assigned them a potion to brew. The young wizard just brewed their potion on his own, not even bothering to ask for help. She was surprised, and a bit angry; if only he'd let her, she could help. It would make it a lot easier.

"Let me help," She said, reaching for the mortal and pestle.

But he snatched it away, "That's alright," he sneered, "I can do it. You just sit around and pretend to be better than everyone like the Gryffindor you are."

Hermione's temper flared, She wanted to scream at him. But no, that was not what would help her get through this double period potions class now. She needed to treat him with kindness, and then maybe he would be kinder to her.

Snape continued working, and Hermione found a way to help him by fetching ingredients before he needed them, so they were already prepared for him. Eventually, she had to talk to him, and knew the perfect thing to say, "So do you know why Remus is sick?" She asked, playing dumb, "I'm concerned about him."

"Shouldn't you already know? You're all buddy-buddy with him and his friends anyway." Snape said coldly, not taking his eyes off of the potion.

"I'm not that good of friends with them. But do you know what's happened to Remus?" She was quite curious if Snape knew his furry little secret yet.

"Yes," he smirked.

So he did know. "Well what is it?"

"Lets just say it's a certain time of the month for him."

Hermione pretended to be confused, but Snape just laughed. She had to admit, he was rather funny. But it was also very kind of Snape to not tell Remus' secret. Hermione half expected him to blab about it to anyone who asked, wanting vengeance on the marauders. But he was kind about it, sure he made fun of Remus, but he never told the secret.

Snape warmed up to Hermione after that. He actually let her add some ingredients to the potion, he seemed to notice that she was at least capable of something. He also chatted with her, about various things, and she enjoyed talking to him.

But Hermione had forgotted her boundaries. Now she was crossing many lines that she had vowed never to cross when she first arrived here.

That was one thing she didn't notice.

* * *

"Hogsmeade tomorrow!" James bellowed to the common room. The boys were just walking in after dinner, Hermione was also tagging along, chatting to Remus about what he missed in potions.

A few students in the common room cheered along with James, Sirius, and Peter. And some girls even approached, probably inteding to flirt with Sirius. Hermione realized that it was quite common for girls to hit on Sirius, but she didn't blame them; he was devastatingly handsome. Or at least that's what she was beginning to think.

"You had to work with Snape?" Remus asked Hermione, cringing at the thought.

"Yeah, and it wasn't that bad." Hermione retorted. The group of them moved over to a bunch of armchairs and sat down. Remus and Hermione continued talking potions while James, Sirius, and Peter talked about all the fun things they would do at Hogsmeade.

"Homework?" Remus inquired.

Hermione shook her head, "Slughorn didn't want to give us any because it's a Hogsmeade weekend."

Remus grinned, excited to enjoy his weekend.

"Hi Sirius," a few giggling girls approached them, they seemed younger, probably sixth years.

"Hello, ladies," Sirius gave them a charming grin, it seemed like he enjoyed the way they swooned.

"We were wondering what you'll be doing at Hogsmeade tomorrow." One of them asked, batting her eyelashes,

"He's already got a date." James abruptly butted in.

The girl who asked seemed devastated, "Who?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow and pointed over to Hermione.

Hermione looked at the girls, there were four of them, and they all seemed to be turning green with envy. She wanted to laugh at how petty they were acting; it was just one day at Hogsmeade, it wasn't that significant.

"Peter doesn't have a date," James offered, patting the smaller boy on the back.

All of the girls left, some of them even snickering. It was crazy how mean girls could be.

"Don't worry, Wormtail, you'll get 'em one day." James smiled.

"Hopefully," Peter muttered.

"You will, and when you do, you'll knock 'em dead." Sirius said comfortingly.

Hermione realized the irony in that statement and had to leave. It was too much to think about Peter knocking people dead, literally or figuratively.

"I'm going to bed," Hermione stood up.

"See ya tomorrow," Sirius winked at her. She could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks as she climbed upstairs.

Hermione walked into her dormitory and found Marlene and another girl, chatting there. She was surprised Lily wasn't there, and honestly didn't want to have to chat with them. Marlene intimidated her a bit, and right now she just wanted to go to bed.

"Hey, Hermione." Marlene greeted her kindly.

"Hi," Hermione smiled, looking from Marlene to the other girl she didn't know.

"I'm Ari," the girl intorduced herself.

"Nice to meet you," Hermione said, grabbing some things from her trunk.

"So, I heard you're going to Hogsmeade with Sirius Black." Marlene said quietly.

Hermione clenched her teeth, this was exactly the confrontation she didn't want. "Yeah, I am," she put on a happy smile, and continued rummaging through her trunk.

"You should watch out for Sirius, if any of the rumors are true, he'll want to go pretty far on your first date," Ari said, inspecting her fingernails.

"Well, he didn't go that far with _me_ on _my_ first date." Marlene said, articulating the end of her sentence.

"Well, he's been a nice gentleman so far," Hermione said, desperately trying to end the conversation, "I'm going to change," she motioned to the clothes in her hand, and left for the washroom.

The girls nodded, and delved into some gossip, seeming to forget that Hermione even existed.


	10. Hogsmeade

**Chapter 10: Hogsmeade**

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the reviews last chapter! I appreciated each and every one! Also, I'm very sorry this took me so long, I wanted to give you guys this chapter a couple days ago. I've just been so busy. Anyways, here's your chapter:

"Tell Sirius I say hi," Marlene said with a smirk as Lily and Hermione exited the dormitory.

Before the walked downstairs, Lily sent a scowl back at the girl. "Sorry, you know how she gets."

Hermione nodded. They continued walking downstairs where most of the students were just getting ready to leave for Hogsmeade.

"Hermione!" Sirius called, dragging James over to the pair of girls with him.

Hermione sent a little grin at Lily before returning her eyes to Sirius, "Hello."

Sirius quickly shoved James towards Lily and guided Hermione over to where Remus and Peter stood waiting. "There's so much to show you!" Sirius began excitedly, "You've never even seen the village before! First I've got to bring you to the Shreiking Shack, it's the most haunted building in Britain!" Hermione noticed Remus fidget nervously at the mention of the Shreiking Shack. "And then we can go to Honeydukes, they've got the most amazing candy. Then after that, we'll go to the Three Broomsticks for some Butterbeer!"

Hermione lauged at how excited he was, it was like he was a five year old boy in a candy store.

"We're going to Zonko's first." Remus stated, looking to Peter with a mischevious smile.

"Oh! I forgot about Zonko's! We just have to go there, Hermione!" Sirius beamed.

"Whatever you say, Sirius." Hermione agreed.

"Come on, guys!" James rushed past them, with Lily in tow. He seemed just as excited as Sirius.

* * *

Hermione pulled her red and gold scarf up around her chin as the cool fall breeze hit her. She walked next to Sirius around a beaten trail. Just a couple minutes earlier, they had split off from the rest of the group who were heading to Zonko's. The two of them were going to the Shreiking Shack, which Sirius demanded that Hermione see.

"So, you know about my childhood, but I don't know much about yours," Sirius said casually as they walked, "What was your childhood like?"

Hermione bit her lip. Could she tell him the truth? Would it matter? "I grew up with my parents, they're Dentists," Hermione explained, "It was a normal childhood... I didn't know about magic until I was eleven," she paused, thinking up a story, "then I learned of my Aunt, and her magic. But my parents didn't want me coming to Hogwarts, so they homeschooled me. There's not much else that was interesting about my childhood."

Sirius nodded, he could tell that she didn't exactly want to talk about her parents and how they left. "It must be strange now, going to school where your aunt is a teacher."

"Yeah, but I've gotten used to it. She treats me like any other student." Hermione replied.

"Here it is!" Sirius pointed to the old house standing on a hill.

"That is creepy," Hermione observed, approaching the fence and looking over it.

"It's even creepier on the inside," Sirius commented.

Hermione whisked her head around to look at him. He stood next to her, casually leaning against the fence. "You've been inside?"

He smirked, "yeah, do you wanna see?"

Hermione was surprised he was so open about going inside. She had thought he would want to keep it a secret that he snuck in there to keep Remus company every month. "No thanks," she answered, not sure if she wanted to remember that night during her third year.

"You're just afraid," he prodded.

"Maybe I am," Hermione said, and began walking back up the trail, away from the fence, "come on, let's find the others."

Sirius chuckled and muttered something about Gryffindor courage under his breath.

* * *

"Hermione, Sirius!" Lily called the couple over to a table in the corner of the Three Broomsticks. She sat next to James, with Remus and Peter also there, sipping Butterbeer.

"Oi! We've got to show you what we brought at Zonko's." Peter grinned, nudging Remus.

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Sirius said, pulling out a chair for Hermione before sitting down beside her.

"Did you like the Shreiking Shack?" Lily asked from across the table.

Hermione nodded, "It was interesting."

"Next we're going to Honeydukes!" James cheered and took a large gulp of his Butterbeer.

Hermione cheered along with the rest of them as Sirius handed her a Butterbeer. It was good to taste that again, it felt like forever since the last time she'd been here and actually felt relaxed. Plus, she was on a date with Sirius Black! This was something she would never have expected to happen, but surprisingly, she really enjoyed it.

"First Quidditch game's coming up," James noted, "and you guys all better come watch."

"We will," Lily confirmed, "And you guys better beat Slytherin."

"As long as James catches the snitch..." Sirius trailed off, raising an eyebrow towards James.

The group finished their drinks, and chatted about Quidditch until they were ready to head to Honeydukes. Hermione stepped out the door behind Remus and next to Sirius. After a minute or so, Hermione felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. She looked to her left and saw Sirius smiling at her in that handsome way. Maybe if he hadn't been so charming, she might have remembered that she wasn't going to allow this. But it was too late for that now.

"Ever had chocolate frogs before?" Sirius asked.

Hermione nodded, "a few times, and I do like them."

"They're my favorite," Sirius smiled as they entered the shop.

Hermione was immediately overwhelmed by the smell of candy and the sound of kids laughing. The shop looked like it hadn't changed a bit since she was last there. Children packed in ever corner and created a long line leading away from the cash register. All the boys immediately began loading themselves with handfulls of candy. It was just like when she was in third year and she went to Honeydukes with Ron.

"Boys will be boys," Lily commented dryly.

Hermione chuckled, "How's your date been? Are you and James getting along well?"

Lily grinned, "You were right, he's matured quite a bit."

"So you like him?" Hermione inquired.

"I don't hate him," Lily tried to act nonchalant, "What about you? How's your day with Sirius? I saw his arm around you earlier."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "It's going well, we're getting along."

"And you seem to have gotten a few jealous glares from other girls on the way over here." Lily added.

Hermione smirked and continued browsing the aisles of Honeydukes.


	11. Firewhiskey For Everyone

**Chapter 11: Firewhiskey for Everyone**

"I'll be there," Hemione grinned up to Sirius, who stood beside her while she packed up her bag. The other students filed out of the classroom, excited to be done for the day.

"Good," Sirius grinned back, snaking an arm around Hermione's waist and leading her out of the DADA room. They were discussing the Quidditch game tomorrow, which Hermione wouldn't want to miss. It was against their biggest rivals, the Slytherin house, and they had to win.

Sirius and Hermione's relationship had definitely advanced in the past week or so. Hermione was learning more about Sirius than she had ever learned in the future, and she had to admit, she really enjoyed it. They had been spotted together around school much more as well. Almost every night, they would sit together in the common room. Either alone, or with the other boys and Lily. During those late nights, they would just talk. About everything from their favorite colors to what their DADA homework was. Sirius would always be careful not to ask Hermione too much about her parents or her childhood, he knew that was still a sore spot with her.

Speaking of Lily, her and James' relationship had advanced quite a lot too. It wasn't uncommon to find them snogging in some remote corridor. Of course, Hermione and Sirius weren't at that point in their relationship yet. Sirius still hadn't really kissed her yet. That was one thing that surprised her, there were all these rumors about how he would normally be snogging five minutes into his first date. But he was a perfect gentleman. For a while she considered that he didn't _want_ to kiss her, but Lily assured her that wasn't true.

"I need to go to the library," Hermione told him.

"Okay, I've got Quidditch practice before the big game tomorrow," He replied.

"Good luck," Hermione smiled, and placed a kiss on his cheek.

After Sirius had walzed away happily to the locker room, Hermione continued in the opposite direction, towards the library. She hadn't come here in a while, and had been neglecting her research. She couldn't remember the last time she had made any real progress. Today, however, McGonagall had given her a pass to the restricted section, and she was feeling good.

For the next two hours, Hermione piled large books up on a table and did what she did best, she studied.

* * *

"GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR, GRYFFINDOR!" Voices boomed through the stands, making the fragile wood shake and rumble.

"It gets pretty loud," Remus explained as they filed through the stands to get seats.

"SLYTHERIN, SLYTHERIN, SLYTHERIN!" A whole new set of voices bellowed.

Remus nodded and motioned to the Slytherin fans, "There's always competition between the two teams. Everyone wants to cheer the loudest."

"It's fun once you get into it." Lily added, taking a seat next to Hermione.

"It looks fun." Hermione grinned, remembering all the Quidditch games she had attended as a kid. It was interesting how she had to pretend to be new to all of this. She looked around like it was her first time to ever see a Hogwarts Quidditch game, and the others seemed to believe her.

"Two minutes," Peter announced, telling them that the game was about to start.

Lily sat down on Hermione's left, then Remus on her right, with Peter next to him. Both Remus and Peter were wearing red and gold face paint, which Hermione and Lily had laughed at for at least fifteen minutes on the way over.

"Welcome, everyone! Today we've got Gryffindor versus Slytherin. It will definitely be an interesting match!" The announcer said, he was some Ravenclaw boy. Hermione half expected to see Lee Jordan sitting there. "And here they come out onto the field," he continued, "On Gryffindor, we have the star seeker, James Potter," a cheer erupted from Gryffindor while boos came from Slytherin, "as well as many of our other returning players."

The Slytherin team marched out onto the field, and the fans went crazy, "and playing for Slytherin is the brand new seeker, Regulus Black! He's a newcomer to the team, but we've heard good things about him. He'll be playing against his older brother, Sirius Black, who is a beater for Gryffindor. As you can see, this will definitely be an interesting match!" The announcer said, almost drown out by the cheering.

"COME ON, POTTER!" Lily's yelled at the top of her lungs,earning a thumbs up from James down on the field. Lily had yelled so close to Hermione, it felt like she had screamed directly into the girl's ear.

Remus scoffed as Hermione made sure her ears weren't bleeding, "you don't hold back, do you?" Remus asked Lily with a grin.

Lily just raised an eyebrow at him and began chanting with the crowd. She really got into Quidditch.

The game began quickly, and started out intense. Slytherin played dirty, that was one thing Hermione was sure of. Every few minutes, the crowd would wince as a Slytherin shoved a Gryffindor out of the way. Gryffindor could also play dirty in response. James made an effort to elbow Regulus whenever the two got to close to each other. Sirius also used his skills well, he had a couple good hits, aiming the bludger at the Slytherins and hitting them most of the time.

The game was slow-moving. For a while, Hermione thought it would be a stalemate. But as the game wore on, they soon found the score to be thirty to twenty, Gryffindor in the lead. Because of their position behind, the Slytherins were getting angrier. Regulus was getting especially fired up. He even tried to throw a punch at James, but just barely missed his face.

"Oooh," Remus squinted, eyes glued to the game.

"Come on, James, get the Snitch!" Lily mumbled to herself, also absorbed in the game.

"Regulus seems to be getting a leg up on James, I hope he doesn't get to the snitch." Remus said nervously.

"It looks like Sirius is aiming to take him out," Peter observed the way Sirius stalked Regulus on the field.

It seemed to happen very quickly. Regulus spotted the snitch and bolted after it, with James hot on his tail. Sirius noticed this happening, and sprung into action. The Beater quickly found a Bludger going astray, and smacked it hard with his club. The Bludger zoomed towards Regulus, who had failed to notice anything other than the golden Snitch. It hit him with a loud thump, and all the Slytherins in the crowd groaned in agony. Regulus flew sideways, and almost completely fell off his broom, but managed to hang on. It was too late for Regulus to get back in the chase after he recovered, James had already caught the snitch.

Lily began jumping up and down, screaming and cheering. Hermione couldn't help getting on her feet too, and cheering alongside the rest of them. Gryffindor had won the match.

"Come on!" Remus called Lily and Hermione, leading them downstairs and into the Quidditch Pitch.

Most of the Gryffindors were running out onto the grass, and the team was just settling down to the ground. Everyone huddled around James, who thrusted the Snitch up into the air.

Lily grabbed Hermione's hand and pulled her into the center of the group, where they found James and Sirius, standing next to eachother happily. "Lily!" James greeted the redhead, pulling her towards him and not hesitating to kiss her feverently.

Hermione lost Lily's hand as James grabbed her away, and found herself lost in a sea of unfamiliar people. For a moment, she began to panick, but then a someone grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards James and Lily. Hermione turned to see Sirius, grinning like a madman, "Sirius!" She beamed, and jumped up to hug him, "you were amazing!"

Sirius chuckled and released her from the hug, "thanks."

They both turned to James and Lily, who were still kissing. Hermione blushed, not wanti to watch them practically snogging. After a second or two, James released Lily, and looked a Sirius and Hermione. "Well go on, then!" He said to Sirius, motioning towards Hermione.

Hermione was confused at what he meant, but then understood as Sirius grabbed her waist and kissed her with full force. She felt her knees go weak out of the pure shock. This was definitely something she wasn't expecting. She could feel him grinning against her mouth while he kissed her. She reached up and put her arms around his neck, loving how it felt to be kissing him. Even if it was wrong, even if she didn't belong here with him, she would have done it all over again for this moment.

Soon, they broke apart, and Hermione lowered her arms from his neck. He looked at her and she could see the happiness in his dark eyes. She loved how kissing him made him so happy, and of course, winning the Quidditch match didn't hurt.

James and Lily moved back over to Hermione and Sirius. "You know what we do now, Hermione?" James asked.

"What?" Hermione smirked, guessing what was to come.

"We celebrate, of course!" Sirius cheered, throwing a fist into the air.

The group of Gryffindors walked swiftly back to the common room, laughing all the while.

"Firewhiskey for everyone!" Was the last thing Sirius yelled before the party began.


	12. Chasing Tails

**Chapter 12: Chasing Tails**

"Did you have fun last night?" Hermione asked Sirius as he dragged himself into the great hall and towards the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, sure," He mumbled in return and slumped down on the bench beside Hermione.

"Do you even remember it?" Hermione challenged him with a raised eyebrow. She knew Sirius had consumed a large ammount of alcohol the night before.

"Yeah I remember it, I wasn't that drunk." He retorted while rubbing his tired eyes.

"Sirius," Lily joined into the conversation, "You and James drank about three bottles of Firwhiskey together."

"That doesn't mean I was drunk, I have a high metabolism." Sirius said while James, Remus, and Peter came to sit down at the table. James and Peter looked equally as hungover as Sirius. Remus, Hermione, and Lily weren't hungover because, naturally, they were the responsible ones.

"You were shirtless half the night," Hermione pointed out to Sirius.

"Sirius is always shirtless," James mumbled, in the same position as Sirius, with his head down on the table, looking rather exhausted.

"James, you were quite drunk too," Hermione added.

"Was not."

"You called a house elf 'mummy' and asked her to dance with you," Lily smirked.

James' face twisted up in horror, "Really?"

Hermione chuckled and nodded alongside Lily.

"You guys reek," Remus observed, crunching up his nose, "I think you're sweating firewhiskey, James."

"We weren't that drunk!" James complained, "Merlin, does the great hall have to be so loud?" Then he proceeded to plug his ears. Hermione looked around the great hall and noticed that about a third of the Gyrffindor table seemed to be in the same state as Sirius, James, and Peter. The Marauders definitely threw some wild parties.

"How did you guys even get the firewhiskey into school?" Hermione asked.

"Hogsmeade," Sirius responded.

"How? I was with you the whole time, and never saw you getting any." She couldn't think of how Sirius had snuck it past her.

Instead of responding, Sirius just shook his head and motioned for Remus to explain. "They didn't go during Hogsmeade weekend, they went on tuesday night, through a secret passage." Remus said.

"What?" Lily asked, "what secret passage?" The red head was confused, but Hermione understood now, it was the Marauders Map, of course! How could she have forgotten?

"It's no big deal, just a tunnel out of Hogwarts and into Honeydukes," James explained.

"What?" Lily repeated her earlier question.

"I'll explain later," James waved her off.

"Eww, Peter, you smell the worst," Remus pointed out, "can you take a shower or something?"

"I showered already," Peter said absently, picking at his breakfast.

Remus rolled his eyes, "I'm the only responsible one around here..."

* * *

Winter was obviously approaching as another week rolled by. It was getting much colder, and Hermione heard talk of the snowy days to come. She had always loved winter at Hogwarts, time for warm sweaters and hot chocolate. On this particuliar afternoon, she was heading down to the Black Lake with Sirius at her side.

"I want to tell you something," Sirius was holding her had tightly as they walked, making sure she stayed close to him. He seemed nervous and guilty, like he had something to tell her that he had neglected telling her before.

"What?" Hermione asked, growing slightly anxious.

The corner of Sirius' mouth turned up in a little smirk, "you're not going to believe it when I say it."

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "try me."

They continued down a path until they were on the shore of the cold water. "Have you ever heard of an Animagus?" He murmured while they walked along the water.

Hermione tried to refrain from smiling. He was telling her that he was an animagus! She couldn't believe that he trusted her that much already. It just showed how close they were growing. After a moment, she answered, "An animagus? Yeah, of course I've heard of them."

"Well..." Sirius paused, "I'm an animagus." He turned to Hermione abruptly.

Hermione faked surprise, and then smiled, "really?"

He nodded, "yup." And they continued walking.

"How?"

"James, Peter, and I did it a couple years ago." He informed her.

"And Remus?" Hermione wondered if he would reveal his friend's furry little secret.

Sirius shook his head, "he's not an animagus." But he said nothing else, obviously not ready to share Remus' secret.

"What animals are you guys?" Hermione asked the questions she already knew the answers to.

"A dog." Sirius said calmly, "James is a stag, and Peter is a rat."

"Hence, the nicknames." Hermione pretended to notice.

Sirius smiled, "you're a clever one, aren't you?" And he pulled her closer to his side, snaking an arm around her waist.

Slowly, a smirk grew across Hermione's face, "prove it."

Sirius looked at her, puzzled for a moment, then responded, "You asked for it."

And with that, he backed away a step, and transformed. His body shifted and changed as he became the large black dog. Hermione smiled while the dog bounded away from her, and around some trees in the distance. After his little show, he ran back to her, picking his head up to catch her hand with his nose.

"You're adorable," Hermione smiled down at him.

After she said that, he turned back to normal, phasing into a human again. "I am not _adorable, _I'm a big, menacing dog." He said in slight frustration.

Hermione just laughed, "what ever you say..."

"Hey!" He complained, returning his arm around her.

"I'm glad you told me," Hermione smiled up at him.

"Me too," He responded, "I'm surprised how well you took it."

Hermione shrugged and they continued walking in comfortable silence. Every minute or two, Hermione would ask him a question about being an animagus, which he would answer.

"What are you doing for Christmas Holiday?" Sirius eventually asked.

"Umm... I think I'm just going to stay here," Hermione was a little put off by the change of subject, "why do you ask."

Sirius smiled excitedly, and turned to her, "How would you like to go to James' house?"

"What?" Hermione sputtered, "Really? He invited me?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand," she muttered.

"We all want you to be there," he explained, "and you can't just stay here at Hogwarts all alone. We're all gonna be there, even Lily's coming!"

Now Hermione was really confused, "why wouldn't Lily tell me she was planning that?" She mumbled.

Sirius shrugged, "she probably just didn't want you to be jealous or something."

Hermione stared out at the Black Lake and considered the whole offer. Would McGonagall and Dumbledore be okay with it? Was she okay with it? Was her relationship with Sirius advancing too far?

"So will you come?" Sirius asked.

"I don't know..." Hermione said, not meeting his eyes.

"Aw come on! It will be so much fun! All your friends will be there, and James' parents really want to meet you-"

"His parents?" Hermione interrupted.

"Yeah, I'm practically their adopted son, so they want to meet my girlfriend too." Sirius continued, "and anyways, were gonna have so much fun. No school, and freedom to do whatever we want. And I want to spend Christmas with you!" He ended looking straight into Hermione's eyes.

Hermione chewed her lip anxiously, "Sirius..."

"Please, please, please!" Sirius begged, grabbing her hand.

Hermione finally broke down, "fine," she breathed out, smiling excitedly.

Sirius' eyes lit up "Yes!" He leaned forward to kiss her feverently, "We're going to have so much fun!" He continued kissing her, pulling her chin up to meet him.


	13. Nights of Snow

**Chapter 13: Nights of Snow**

The Gryffindor girl's dormitory was quiet on a thursday afternoon. Hermione laid on her bed alone, immersed deep in thought. In two days, they would be leaving for Christmas Holiday on the Hogwarts Express. Hermione chewed her lip as she wondered about James' parents. She also considered what had happened earlier that morning. Hermione had remembered that McGonagall was technically her guardian, and she had to inform the professor of her plans over holiday.

Hermione visited McGonagall early that day and told her about going to James' house. It was puzzling how the woman had reacted, she was perfectly fine with it, almost as if she had expected it. Hermione didn't anticipate McGonagall to accept that so easily, but the Potters were a well known family, and she trusted them.

"Packing time!" Lily said excitedly, bursting into the dormitory and bringing Hermione out of her thoughts.

Hermione grinned, "How much stuff are you bringing?"

Lily shrugged, "maybe my whole trunk..."

Hermione chuckled, "Are you excited?"

Lily nodded furiously, "Of course, It's going to be amazing!" The red head looked out the dark window dreamily, "Me and James can hang out the whole time..." At that moment, she looked surprisingly similar to Luna Lovegood. "With you guys too, obviously. We're gonna have so much fun." The only difference between Lily and Luna was that Luna wasn't often daydeaming over a boy.

"You and James have become a lot closer," Hermione observed.

"Yeah, I don't know why I never dated him before, he's wonderful." Lily murmured

Hermione smiled, "Remember when you thought he was the biggest git in this school?"

Lily blushed, "I misjudged him!" She defended herself, "Come on, we really need to pack."

Hermione nodded with the smile still on her lips, "Though really, you and James are always getting cosy and snogging or something."

"Our relationship has advanced quickly," Lily concluded.

"You can say that again," Hermione found her favorite blouse and folded it up, "Aren't you friends with that guy, Severus Snape?" She changed the topic.

Lily whisked her head around to look suspiciously at Hermione, "how do you know about Severus?"

Hermione tried to pretend like she didn't know him very well, "He's in potions with Remus and I. I've just heard some things about how you two used to be really close."

Lily nodded solemnly, "Yeah, but we're not friends anymore."

"Why?"

Lily remained silent for a moment, "He just said some mean stuff to me."

Hermione nodded, it was obvious Lily didn't want to talk about him anymore. She could vaguely remember hearing about how Snape and Lily had gotten into a fight once, and never really become friends again. It was a shame, Snape deserved to have Lily as a friend, even if she would eventually marry James.

Lily forgot about Snape after a moment, and brought up Sirius, "You and Sirius aren't as close as James and I."

"Yeah," Hermione mumbled.

"Why is that?" Lily continued, "With Sirius' past of girlfriends, I'd expect it to be the opposite."

Hermione shrugged, "I have trouble getting close to him, I guess." She really knew that she had been resisting some of his advances due to the fact that she was afraid. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew that this wasn't real. She was out of her time, and her and Sirius didn't belong together. "I'll probably be getting much closer to him over holiday though."

Lily giggled, "Yeah, there will be a lot of time for _that_."

Hermione blushed, "Oh, Lily..."

"Well, you probably won't have all that much alone time with Sirius, me and the others will be there as well."

"Yeah, it'll be all of us together most of the time," Hermione agreed.

"Speaking of the others," Lily turned from her trunk to Hermione, "I might be completely off here, but it seems like you have some kind of problem with Peter."

Hermione's eyes widened, "what makes you think that?"

"I've noticed that whenever you look at him you kind of seem disgusted. I don't know, you just give off this angry vibe when you're around him." Lily said quietly.

Lily was right, Hermione had been giving Peter somewhat disgusted looks lately, and she wouldn't be surprised if the others noticed. But she couldn't just tell Lily why she despised Peter. "I just get annoyed by him...I don't really know why."

"Yeah, Peter annoys me sometimes." Lily said.

"I'll try to act friendly around him over holiday." Hermione decided.

"Sounds like a good plan." Lily smiled, and both the girls continued to pack in excitement.

* * *

"Hello," a voice whispered in Hermione's ear, catching her off guard.

She almost shreiked in shock, twisting around to see the person who had surprised her, "Sirius," she breathed in relief, "you scared me."

"You're just too jumpy," he mumbled, hopping over to sit next to her on the couch. Hermione had been hanging out with Lily and James in the common room. They came down after Lily and her had finished packing their stuff.

"What's up?" Hermione asked, looking over to the dark haired boy beside her.

Sirius looked around the room as if he had a secret, "Come with me," his hot breath whispered in her ear again.

Without a moments hesitation, Sirius grabbed Hermione by the arm and pulled her from the common room and past the Fat Lady. "Where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"Just away," Sirius said absently, "I wanted to get out of the common room."

"Oh," Hermione said quietly.

They were walking up some stairs and away from the Gryffindor tower. For a moment, Hermione thought they were headed towards Ravenclaw tower. The whole time, Sirius pulled her by the hand, every couple of moments, he would smile or run his fingers through his hair. She had to admit, he looked particularly good tonight.

"Are we going to the Astronomy tower?" Hermione asked. She recognized the path they were taking.

Sirius grinned, "yeah," and left them to the silence of the hallways.

Eventually, they climbed some stairs and found an empty astronomy tower. They both shivered slightly as cold air hit them. Sirius brought Hermione over to the railing where he motioned out towards the night sky. Hermione immediately noticed the small flakes of white falling downwards.

"Snow," Hermione observed, a large grin stretching across her face.

Sirius leaned in to kiss her smiling lips, "just in time for Christmas."

"Is that why you brought me here?" Hermione asked while he returned his gaze to the snowy ground below.

"Yeah," Sirius confirmed, "and I also wanted to tell you how happy I am that you're coming with us for holiday."

"I'm happy too," Hermione shivered, "but I won't be happy if I freeze to death, so lets get back inside."

Sirius nodded, and they descended the stairs out of the Astronomy tower. Soon, theywere walking back through the corridor towards the Common room.

"What time is it?" Hermione asked.

"I think it's a little after ten."

"Past curfew," Hermione mumbled, "let's hope we don't get caught out."

"Darling, I'm Sirius Black, I don't get caught," He said, his aristocratic face shining in the dim light.

As if some greater being heard Sirius' sassy remark, there was an echo of footsteps that began down the hall.

"Shit," Sirius whispered, and pulled Hermione into a nearby broom cupboard while Hermione stifled a laugh.

He closed the door and crammed into the small space next to Hermione. The footsteps, which Hermione assumed to be Filch's, padded towards them.

"Good thinking," Hermione whispered.

"Thanks," He mumbled down at her in response. After a couple seconds, it seemed like the footsteps were beginning to fade away, "do you think he's gone?"

"I don't know, but we should wait here a minute or two just in case."

"While we're stuck here, we might as well make the most of it," Sirius raised an eyebrow, and looked down to Hermione's slightly shorter frame.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but complied when Sirius began kissing her. She was his girlfriend, so she wouldn't deny herself the pleasure of snogging Sirius Black. Besides, Lily had told her that she needed to get closer to him.

Merlin, she loved kissing him. His lips were soft, and his hands held her waist firmly. She was leaning back against the wall, and he was gently pushing her into it. She brought her hands up to wrap around his neck, and ran her fingers throught the hair at the nape of his neck. She could see how easy it was for Sirius to get the attention of girls, and it was no wonder the guy had a reputation for snogging. With lips like those, snogging should have been his job!

After Hermione ran out of air, she pulled away and took a breath.

"Ready to go back to the common room?" Sirius asked.

"Not just yet," Hermione said, and leaned in to kiss him again.


	14. Come Home

**Chapter 14: Come Home**

"Here's an empty one," Lily said, sliding open the door as everyone filed in.

It was a tight fit inside the compartment of the train, Lily sat next to James, then Peter, and across was Remus, Hermione, and Sirius. The Hogwarts Express was just pulling away from their school, Hermione peered out the window, and was able to spot the castle fading away. It was definitely going to be an interesting experience for her. She was going to stay with Harry's grandparents, and it was the first time she had left Hogwarts while in the past. Somewhere, in the back of her head, she worried if someing would happen when she left school grounds. But, as the train progressed further and further away from Hogwarts, nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Excited?" Sirius whispered in Hermione's ear, putting his arm around her. The rest of the group carried on a conversation about Quidditch.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, but I'm mostly nervous," she leaned into his arm.

"Nervous for what? Meeting Prongs' parents?" Sirius smirked.

"It's not funny," she gave him a light poke of her elbow, "It's perfectly reasonable for me to be nervous meeting his parents. What if they don't like me?"

Sirius leaned in to give her a light peck, "They'll love you, they love everyone. Anyways, what's not to like about you?"

"I don't know..." Hermione fumbled with the hem of her robe.

"Quit worrying, we're going to have so much fun. It's a relaxing vacation," Sirius stretched his legs out and folded his arms behind his head.

"Fine," Hermione mumbled and focused back on the rest of the conversation.

"No way, James could totally take out the Ravenclaw seeker blindfolded," Peter said loyally.

"I'm not saying he couldn't, I'm just saying that the Raveclaw seeker is pretty fast." Remus debated.

"Yeah he's fast... for a Ravenclaw," James said, eliciting a laugh from the other boys. Hermione made eye contact with Lily, who didn't seem very amused with the joke either.

After noticing Lily, Hermione really got a chance to evaluate her friend. The redhead seemed very content and calm, she sat next to James, curled up to his side with a little smile on her face. Every couple of minutes, James would kiss her or whisper something in her ear, causing her to giggle. It was at this point, that Hermione got a good chance to observe how much Lily and James' relationship had moved along. It was just like Lily had said, they were much closer that a couple months ago. It was such a significant change from when they despised each other.

Hermione also saw a slight hint of apprehension in Lily's expression. Not wonder she seemed nervous, she was meeting her boyfriends' parents. She deserved to be much more nervous than Hermione, Mr. and Mrs. Potter weren't even Sirius' real parents.

"What do you guys want to do when we get there?" James asked the group, bringing Hermione out of her thoughts.

"Well it's going to be pretty late by the time we arrive," Lily said, "I doubt we'll have much time to do anything."

"That's true," Remus nodded.

"Alright, then we can eat dinner, maybe have a tour, and then you ladies can get some of your precious beauty sleep." James joked.

"Ah, yes! We just _must_ have the grand tour of the Potter estate!" Sirius said properly.

"Of course, Messieur Padfoot!" James agreed.

James and Sirius continued their banter for several minutes. Eventually, Lily stood up, "Do you want to go change out of our robes?" Lily asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded and followed Lily out of the compartment with some clothes under her arm. "You seem nervous," She observed once she was alone with Lily, walking down the hallway.

"So do you," Lily responded, "But who wouldn't be."

"I'm sure James' parents will be wonderful," Hermione tried to shake off that anxious feeling.

"Oh, of course they will be," Lily nodded Hermione off to the bathroom while they both changed.

Only a moment later, Hermione and lily were walking back to the compartment in their jeans and sweatshirts; looking exactly like the normal Muggles that one would encounter at King's Cross Station.

* * *

Sirius' smile widened when they pulled into platform nine and three quarters. He looked out the window happily, as if he was taking in every detail. Hermione couldn't imagine how liberating it must have felt for him to be going to a happy home for Christmas, instead of Number 12 Grimmauld Place, the prison of his childhood. For a moment she wanted to let him know that she had been to his childhood home, and spent a summer there. She wanted him to know that she understood, and that he needed to be strong when that summer came around in however many years.

That was the summer when he was weak. He had just returned from Azkaban, which gave him a deteriorating livelihood. Of course, he wasn't as bad as he had been at first, that night Hermione first saw him in third year. He was a gaunt man who had been through far too much. He had only just begun to recover by the time he fell through the veil. Hermione let the images play through her mind: the way he faded away into the white mist, and the way Harry screamed his Godfather's name in agony.

"Finally!" James exclaimed, jumping out of his seat and grabbing his trunk. For the second time that day, Hermione was pulled back out of her thoughts. She looked outside and saw that the train had stopped. Parents were waving as the start of the kids got off.

"Ready?" Sirius asked Hermione with an excited smile. He stood above her, reaching out a hand to help her up.

"As ready as I'll ever be..." Hermione trailed off while they exited the compartment.

The six of them got off the train and were immediately immersed in the crowd of people. Hermione clung to Sirius' hand while James looked for his parents.

After some searching, Hermione saw two people who were definitely Mr. and Mrs. Potter. James' father was a tall, thin man with the trademark wild hair. The only significant difference between him and James was the fact that he didn't wear glasses, but insted, James' mother did. She was a slightly shorter woman with long black hair, pulled back in a barrett. Her glasses were perched on a thin nose, they looked almost identical to James'. Hermione could easily point out a few traits that ran in the Potter family.

"James!" Mrs. Potter grinned, enveloping her son in a hug. "Oh, and Sirius!" She turned to Sirius next, and hugged him as well.

"Hello mum," James smiled in response, and then went to hug his father as well.

"You must be Lily," Mrs. Potter said, giving Lily an excited hug, "I've heard too much about you over the years to not recognize you."

A broad smile grew across Lily's face, "It's very nice to meet you."

After hugging Lily, James' mum looked at the rest of the group, "Ah, Remus and Peter, it's so nice to see both of you again... and this is Hermione?" She moved towards the bushy haired witch who was currently looking nervously at Sirius.

"Yes mum," Sirius said, Hermione could have chuckled at the way he called James' mother 'mum'. "This is Hermione Jean," She also wanted to correct Sirius for a second, and say that he name was Granger, but caught herself before she could. It was still hard to get used to that as her last name.

"Hello," Hermione greeted the woman, who of course, hugged her firmly. "We're all going to have so much fun this Christmas!"

"Yes, yes, it's wonderful to meet all of you," James' dad said, "and we better get going before we get caught in a traffic rush.


	15. Holiday

**Chapter 15: Holiday**

The Potter's house was beautiful, and Hermione couldn't help but wish she could take a picture and show it to Harry or something. It also caused her to wonder what would happen to James' parents. They weren't alive when James and Lily died, so what happened to them? She never heard Harry talk about it or anything.

"Come on, everyone!" Mrs. Potter said, waving them all into the large house.

They were in some muggle suburb, a quiet neighborhood with many similar looking houses. It reminded Hermione of Privet Drive.

"I'll grab your bag," Sirius said, pulling Hermione's small trunk along with his.

"Thanks," Hermione followed Sirius and the others inside.

"I'm going to get started on dinner right away," James' mum announced, "James, dear, will you show everyone around?"

"Alright!" James clapped his hands together, "time for the grand tour!"

James led them upstairs first, and as the walked, Hermione noted the many Christmas decorations. There were garlands all around, and even some mistletoe. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if it was the work of house elves. At the end of the hallway was Lily and Hermione's room, "You ladies will stay here, in the guest room. Just drop your bags off and we'll continue on," James told Hermione and Lily.

The girls did so, briefly evaluating the nice bedroom with two twin beds. It felt a lot like Hogwarts.

"We're gonna be a bit short on space, huh Prongs?" Sirius asked while they continued on to the boys room just down the hall.

"Yes, I'm afraid all four of us will be crammed in here." James opened the door to his room, which he had begun to share with Sirius in recent years. Remus and Peter evaluated the room and placed their bags inside.

"Moving on!" James announced. He lead the group back downstairs to the drawing room, where a fire was heating up the house. There was also a lot of christmas spirit in this room, including a nicely decorated tree. Among other things, Hermione noticed a lot of Gryffindor spirit. The Potters were definitely a Gryffindor family. Next, they proceeded into the kitchen, where James' mum was cooking up a storm.

"Are you all okay with your rooms?" The matriarch asked, "Sorry you boys have to be a little cramped."

"It's fine, mum," James waved her off, "anyways, this is the kitchen, any food you guys want is available to you," after Mrs. Potter left the room for a moment, he brought his voice down to a whisper, "and my dad has a stash of firewhiskey in the cupboard."

Sirius and Peter smiled while Remus and the girls just rolled their eyes.

Mrs. Potter entered the room again, "Sorry if my cooking isn't as good as you would expect, I usually have help from Lila."

"Lila?" Lily asked.

"The house elf, we've given her the week away for Christmas."

Hermione expected that the Potters would have a house elf. They were a pureblood family, and house elves were very popular in 20th century wizarding families. Hermione remembered reading about it during her SPEW research. Sure, she was a little irritated by the fact that James' family had a house elf, but they had given the elf a vacation. That had to show that they at least had some respect for her. Hermione decided that she wouldn't get worked up thinking about it, she didn't want to be _that_ kind of guest.

* * *

"Again, I must apologize for my poor cooking," Mrs. Potter said while they sat down to eat.

"It's fabulous cooking, mum," Sirius dug in, still using his funny reference to Mrs. Potter.

"So, what are you all planning to do here?" Mr. Potter asked, "you'll all have a lot of free time."

James shrugged, "Probably just about everything there is to do."

"There's supposed to be a big snow tomorrow, you all could go outside and play," Mrs. Potter said excitedly.

"Mum, we're not five years old," James mumbled, "we don't play outside anymore."

"Oh, well you know what I mean." She retorted.

They continued eating and chatting for a while. Hermione was quite comfortable, until the issue of parents was brought up.

"So, we know about the boys, but I'd like to hear about your families, Lily and Hermione." Mrs. Potter said.

"We're both muggle-borns," Lily answered quickly, sensing that Hermione would be uncomfortable. Hermione was happy that Lily was trying to answer for her.

"Oh, that's very interesting." Mr. Potter said.

Dinner continued for a while, with small talk and such. Finally, the group moved to sit in front of the fire in the common room.

"The food was wonderful, Mrs. Potter," Hermione said graciously.

"You're welcome, dear." The woman was very similar to Mrs. Weasley in some ways.

With a slight nudge from Lily, Hermione took a seat next to Sirius on the couch. He proceeded to put an arm around her and pull her to his side. She smiled as the familiar scent that was distinctly Sirius hit her nose.

"They're wonderful, huh?" Sirius whispered to Hermione.

She nodded, "I'm glad to have met them."

"So, you kids have to tell us about Quidditch!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed, both her and her husband seemed rather enthusiastic on the subject.

James chuckled, "We had a very intense game against Slytherin a few weeks back."

"Victory, of course," Sirius added. Hermione scoffed at how cocky he was being.

"It was really cool, James caught the snitch," Peter said, grinning along with James and Sirius.

"Well it's good that you've got Slytherin out of the running for the house cup," James' dad said from his position on the couch next to his wife.

"Unless we lose a game, then they could still come back," Remus noted.

"We won't lose a game, Moony," James said, confident as ever.

"Have any of you noticed how the Slytherins have been acting ever since the game?" Lily asked.

Remus nodded, "they're definitely holding a grudge."

"Sounds like we'll have to keep an eye out for them," Sirius gave a little half-smirk.

Hermione smiled and snuggled into him more. The winter was cold, but she was happy here, in Sirius' arms. They had the fire to keep them warm, and each other for company. She could sit here forever, and wouldn't mind.

* * *

"Hermione! Get up!" Lily exclaimed.

Hermione opened her eyes to find Lily staring out the window of their room. For a moment, she thought they were back in Hogwarts. It was fairly late in the morning, Hermione looked over to the clock and noted that she slept an hour later than usual. But by the sound of it, not many others were awake yet.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked sleepily.

"It snowed a TON!" Lily was very excited.

Hermione got up to see a white blanket of snow coating the trees all around outside. "That's amazing," she mumbled, "we'll have to go outside today!"

"Come on, lets get downstairs."

About an hour later, the whole group of kids was sitting at the table, mulling over what to do.

"Let's go outside!" Lily pleaded.

"Yeah, I want to check out this snow!" Sirius agreed.

"Aren't we a little old for playing in the snow?" Remus asked, a bit jocular.

"You're never too old for snow time!" Sirius jumped up and began dragging everyone outside with the help of Lily.

As soon as they stepped out the door, the cold breeze hit them. Hermione dug her chin into her Gryffindor scarf and began buttoning her jacket. However, before she could finish, a pair of hands were picking her up by the waist.

"Hey!" Hermione squealed as Sirius picked her up and hauled her over his shoulder, "this is not how you should treat a woman!"

"Oh, hush," Sirius said, dropping Hermione down on a pile of snow and kissing her.

"Get off me, you git," Hermione mumbled under his lips.

He just chuckled, and finally pulled away to begin making a snowball.

"Really, Sirius? You're going to start a snowball fight?" Hermione asked, still laying down on the pile of snow.

"Exactly," Sirius smirked. The wizard then proceeded to turn around to where James was chatting with the others. "Oi, Prongs!" Sirius yelled. Just as James turned around, a snowball hit him right smack in the face.

Sirius began laughing hysterically while James sputtered the snow out of his face. Soon, the group of them had launched into a huge snowball fight. Hermione and Remus being the strategic ones, began to build a fort behind a large pile of snow. From behind their fort, they were able to watch the rest of the fight while occasionally tossing a snowball at Sirius or James, who were both getting very into it.

"Padfoot, think fast!" James called, hurling a snowball at Sirius. The snowball managed to hit Sirius right in the eye with a loud thump.

"Bloody hell! That was ice, mate!" Sirius yelled, "I think you gave me a black eye!" Sirius looked pretty angry, and proceeded to take his wand out of his pants and throw a jelly legs jinx at James.

James retaliated by removing his wand and beginning to hex Sirius repeatedly.

Lily and Peter quickly got out of their range before a stray spell could hit them. Soon, Hermione, Remus, Peter, and Lily were all hiding behind the snow fort.

"Take that!" James yelled, sending Sirius a hex which he managed to block.

The fight went on for a couple more minutes before the others decided they needed to stop it.

"HEY!" Lily yelled, causing both Sirius and James to freeze in place. "Will the two of you stop hexing each other before one of you gets seriously hurt!"

"I think he gave me a black eye!" Sirius called.

James just chuckled, and began to walk over to Lily, "Sorry, Padfoot."

"It's not okay! You ruined my beautiful face, now Hermione's never gonna kiss me again!" Sirius moaned.

Hermione strided over to Sirius, "It didn't ruin your beautiful face, don't worry," she said, and kissed him, "See? I'll still kiss you." She did note that his eye was already bruising a bit.

"Do you guys want some hot chocolate? I just finished heating it up!" Mrs. Potter called from the doorway to the house.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," Remus said, and they all followed inside.

A moment later, they were sitting at the table while Mrs. Potter levitated over cups of coffee.

"Here, Sirius, let me heal your eye," Hermione offered, turning to the wizard next to her with her wand.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked nervously.

"Yes, don't worry, I'm good at healing spells. I promise." Hermione smiled.

Sirius nodded and let Hermione begin to work at his eye. Hermione was very good at healing spells, the years of practice during the war did that for her. She healed the bruising quickly, and soon Sirius' eye looked good as new.

"Wow, where'd you learn to heal that well, Hermione?" Remus asked, evaluating Sirius' eye from across the table.

Hermione shrugged and took a sip of her hot chocolate, "I guess I've just had a lot of time to practice."

* * *

Christmas morning came quickly, and before Hermione knew it, she was sitting around the tree with everyone, ready to open presents.

"You kids just get going on your presents," Mrs. Potter said happily.

Many presents were exchanged. Hermione and Lily had ordered a lot of presents a couple weeks before they went on break by writing away to different stores. Hermione got a new quill and some ink from Remus, a copy of Hogwarts: A History from Sirius. Hermione asked Sirius how he knew that she liked the book, and he claimed that she was complaining about how she lost her copy and it was her favorite book. She did think it was a wonderful present.

Hermione, and most of the others gave Remus chocolate from Honeydukes, knowing how much he liked it. Lily also gave James a boom maintenace kit that was shockingly similar to the one Hermione gave Harry when they were thirteen. Hermione experienced an odd sense of _deja vu_ at that moment. It had been perticuliarly challenging to get a gift for Sirius, but Hermione finally decided on some Gryffindor gear for his room at James' house, and a gift basket that she saw him eyeing at Zonko's.

"Thanks for my present," Hermione came up to kiss Sirius. He wraped an arm around her waist and kissed her back.

"Thanks for mine too," Sirius grinned the trademark marauder grin.

* * *

The rest of holiday passed by quickly, and soon they only had two days left. One particuliar night, Hermione woke up at about two in the morning to find Lily's bed empty. Hermione first assumed the girl had gone to the bathroom, but she didn't return for a very long time. Hermione finally undeerstood what happened when the door was slowly opened.

She expected Lily to come in, but was thoroughly surprised when Sirius entered instead.

"Sirius?" Hermione asked.

"Hello," Sirius whispered, and strided over to Hermione.

"What are you doing here? Where's Lily?" Hermione was still quite confused.

To Hermione's surprise, Sirius hopped onto her bed, right next to her, "Lily went to visit James...I needed to get out of there, so I came to visit you!"

Hermione just chuckled, "Okay, then."

"Don't be so tense," Sirius mumbled and wrapped an arm around Hermione

"You're a strange guy, Sirius," Hermione mumbled, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I won't bother you with my strangeness for long, as soon as Lily gets back, I'll be out of your hair."

Hermione shrugged, "I wouldn't mind if Lily didn't come back for a long time."

Sirius chuckled, and Hermione could hear the laugh rumbling in his chest.


	16. The War Begins

**Chapter 16: The War Begins**

Mrs. Potter hugged James tightly as they stood in platform nine and three-quarters. "I'm gonna miss you," she smiled, then proceeded to hug Sirius, Lily, Hermione, Remus, and Peter.

"Yeah, mum, we've gotta get on the train," James pointed to the Hogwarts Express behind him. Tons of kids were boarding the train, looking happy and well fed from their holiday festivities.

"Bye kids, make sure to study hard for the NEWTs!" Mr. potter waved goodbye.

The group of them made their way onto the train, saying goodbye one last time and waving as the train departed. Hermione stood between James and Sirius, and had a moment of surprise when she looked to her right, and saw a pair of little round glasses on a head of untidy black hair. She did a double take, then saw the eyes. The eyes that weren't Harry's, but James'.

"Lets find a compartment," Remus said, and they moved along past groups of students finding their way through the train.

As they walked, Hermione spotted a group of Slytherin students staring angrily at them. She didn't recognize any of them, but they seemed to be a mix of fifth, six, and seventh years. "They really are holding a grudge, huh?" Hermione said to Sirius, motioning toward the group.

"Just because we kicked their sorry arses at Quidditch," Sirius mumbled with a slight laugh.

Hermione elbowed Sirius and gave him a warning glare, not wanting the Slytherins to hear his rude remarks.

"Here's a empty one," Lily pulled open a compartment and they all filed in.

James groaned, "I can't believe we have to go back to school so soon."

"It's not that bad, Hogwarts is a nice place," Remus said.

"Yeah, but holiday was so much fun, and now it's over," James seemed rather down.

"I forgot that NEWTs are coming up," Hermione said, looking out the window.

"They're not coming up, we've got until the end of the year," Sirius said.

"Yeah, but it's never too early to start studying!" Hermione grinned, looking around the compartment.

Sirius was giving Hermione a look of utter despair. "I don't want to study," he moaned.

"Stop being dramatic, we have to study," Hermione said, "If you ever want to be sucessful in life, your NEWTs need to be good."

"I doubt that everything is dependant on NEWTs," James said, raising an eyebrow.

"Most of the jobs in your future are," Remus agreed with Hermione, "You guys heard McGonagall lecturing us about it."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius mumbled, "Of course Hermione and her aunt would just love for us to start studying."

"I agree, we should get ahead with our studying," Lily nodded.

"Fine, then you guys can go off and study while we have fun," James grinned, looking to Peter and Sirius.

Hermione considered it. Should she study? Was it worth it if this wasn't even her time? She was from the past. Her scores couldn't possibly count for the future. But was she ever going back to the future? Or would she stay trapped here forever? Hermione decided that she would study, there was no hurt in learning the material, even if she never got to take those NEWTs.

The train ride went on slowly, as they passed the rolling hills they all knew so well. The time passed and the sun began to set. Everything was quiet and peaceful, until they were about an hour away. All hell broke loose.

"It'd probably be red," Sirius said absently, "and I'd definitely have some studs lining the leather seat." At the moment, he was explaining what his dream motorbike would look like. Hermione couldn't remember someone asking him to describe it, but somehow, he had gotten into it.

"Sirius," Lily began, "No offense, but we don't want to hear about it."

Sirius gave Lily an appauled look, and then searched the faces of everyone else in the compartment, finding that they had the same look of boredom as Lily. "Fine, whatever," He mumbled, leaning back in the seat.

"I'm hungry," James announced, "does anyone want to go find the trolly?"

"Sure," Remus said. Peter and Sirius also agreed to go, and the boys set off to find the trolley.

Lily and Hermione began chatting, but only a moment later, a shriek erupted from another compartment.

"What was that?" Lily asked, standing up and opening the compartment door to look down the hall.

Hermione couldn't see outside, but could somewhat tell what was happening. A second later, Lily let out the same shriek they had just heard. The red head jumped away from the door, and stood on top of the seat across from Hermione.

"What is it?" Hermione said cautiously. The question was answered a moment later when Hermione spotted a small green snake slithering along the floor into their compartment.

"SNAKE!" A small girl yelled from outside. Hermione jumped up on the seat as well when she noticed several other identical snakes moving along down the hall.

"Hermione, we need to kill them!" Lily said, removing her wand.

Hermione nodded hastily and took her wand out of the waistband of her pants. Lily was the first to hit the snake with a hex. Immediately, it exploded into a puff of green smoke. It was a very off experience to see a snake explode like that.

"IT SMELLS!" Lily screamed.

Hermione didn't know what she was talking about at first, but then it hit her. A horrible smell that invaded her nose and made her gag. "What is that?" Hermione asked loudly, plugging her nose and waving the smoke clear.

"I don't know, but we've got to close the door before more of them get inside," Lily said while she coughed.

Hermione moved to close the door and then inspected their compartment once all the smoke cleared. "They're aren't any more in here."

"It sounds like there are a lot more outside," Lily observed. They could still hear yelling and cursing coming from out in the hallway, but it sounded like people had hexed the snakes just like Lily did. Hermione looked out the window and saw some green smoke clearing away.

"Do you think the boys are okay?"

"Probably, though I'd guess they smell too," Hermione mumbled.

And sure enough, when the four boys entered moments later, they smelled just as bad as Hermione and Lily. All of them looked very irritated, and were plugging their noses.

"I'm guessing you guys saw them too?" James asked, smiling sourly.

"Yeah," Hermione closed the compartment door quickly behind them.

"You think we can get rid of it?" Sirius asked.

"It's worth a try," Remus shrugged and began casting spells.

After several different tries, the smell was reduced slightly, but still there. Everyone sat down, trying not to breath through their noses.

"It was the Slytherins," James said confidently.

"What, you think they did it?" Lily said.

"They definitely did it," Sirius added angrily. Hermione thought about it, and it seemed true. Who else would attack with green snakes? It was very much like the Slytherins she knew.

"How do you think they did it?" Hermione asked.

Sirius shrugged, still looking fairly angry, "Maybe it's a new Zonko's product or something."

"Was it only Gryffindors that were attacked?" Remus said, studying the hallway from inside their compartment.

James nodded, "Probably. I saw some Hufflepuff first years that got it because they were in the way, but other than that, it was only Gryffindors."

"Poor kids," Hermione said, thinking of the helpless Hufflepuffs Being pranked like that.

"But why did they do it?" Lily asked.

"The Quidditch game," Sirius said confidently, "They've been holding a grudge ever since we beat them."

Remus nodded in agreement, "that's probably why they looked so suspicious when we got on the train."

After a pause, James spoke again, "You guys know what this means?" he asked, looking around the compartment.

"What?" Peter curiously watched James.

"This means war." James muttered, a determined look on his face, and his lips turning up in a little grin.


	17. House Rivalry

**Chapter 17: House Rivalry**

Hermione sat across the table from Remus in the library. They were currently sorting through a small pile of books, deciding which ones they needed to study from. NEWTs were coming closer, but most of the other students were still convinced they had all the time in the world until they needed to begin studying.

The bushy haired witch picked her head up and saw Remus shifting through a book. She almost gasped when she looked at him. He looked like...Remus. Not the Remus she was used to, but the Remus from the future. His head hung low and there were deep circles under his eyes. Hermione remembered that the full moon was coming up in a day or so. He looked thin too, and his clothes seemed to hang gaunt over his body. Hermione remembered the days when she knew him as Professor Lupin. Back then, she never understood how many troubles he had, she never knew of the monster inside of him. Eventually, of course, she figured it all out. But she still didn't know back then. Hermione tried to imagine a time when she didn't know all of those people she had come to accept as her family.

"Remus," Hermione said softly, unable to resist. He picked his head up and looked at her curiously. "Are you alright?"

Remus searched her face in confusion for a moment, then exhaled and leaned back, "Yes, Hermione, I'm just tired, and I feel a bit sick."

He was even talking like the future Remus always did. It took Hermione a while to get a grip and nod. Thoughts of impending death and betrayal were swimming around in her mind, making it impossible to concentrate.

They continued going through the books in silence for a little, until Remus seemed to remember something. "Oh, I should warn you: Sirius, James, and Peter are planning a retaliation prank on the Slytherins. I told them I don't feel like getting involved in this one, and Sirius decided that he wants to enlist your help." Remus said warily, "Just a warning."

As it turned out, Remus' warning was good considering the fact that Sirius came galloping into the library seconds later.

"Hermione!" He exclaimed loudly, almost running into an old bookshelf as he attempted to dodge an irate Madame Pince.

"Hey Sirius," Hermione smiled at him, and he took the seat next to her.

"Hi moony," Sirius looked to Remus with a rather angry expression on his handsome features.

Remus raised an eyebrow, "He's angry because I won't help planning the pranks," The werewolf explained to Hermione.

"I'm not angry, we all understand that you're preoccupied with a certain furry little problem," Sirius waggled his eyebrows.

Hermione was about to laugh, but quickly caught herself, remembering that she wasn't supposed to understand the joke.

"Oh, I thought I got enough of that from Prongs, now you?" Remus asked irritated.

"Okay, enough," Hermione interrupted, "Sirius, do you need something, or can we get back to work?"

Sirius's face brightened up, "Yes! I need your help!"

Another hush came from around the corner.

Hermione saw Remus grin and shake his head, "Is this about your prank fight, or whatever?"

"It's not a prank _fight_, it's more like a prank _war_," Sirius said, examining Hermione's Ancient Runes textbook.

"Okay, whatever, I really need to get back to studying," Hermione mumbled and turned back to the pile of books which Remus had already abandoned the conversation for.

"Wait, let me explain what I need help with," Sirius interrupted her thoughts again.

"Alright," Hermione turned to the boy next to her, "Go on."

"So we need to retaliate against the Slytherins for the whole snake incident, and we were thinking that it would be clever to use some sort of muggle prank. That would really piss them off. And because none of us know much about muggle life, we decided to turn to our favorite muggle borns! Lily's already said no after James asked her-"

"Smart girl," Remus interrupted.

"_Anyways_," Sirius continued, ignoring Remus, "I was wondering if you would help us come up with a muggle prank."

Hermione considered it for a moment. Normally, Hermione Granger would never help them break the rules of Hogwarts for a silly little grudge. But she was still quite infuriated after the whole incident on the train. Besides, who says Hermione _Jean_ wouldn't help them out? He was her boyfriend, and she didn't want him to go around not getting payback for something like that. "Okay, what's in it for me though?" Hermione asked.

Sirius thought it over, "Well, I don't know...You can snog me?" Remus scoffed from across the table.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Don't I already have that privelage?"

Sirius considered it for a moment, "Aw come on, just help us out! We're fresh out of original ideas!"

"Fine, I'll give you an idea, but I'm not going to actually do it. You guys have to pull it off. I will definitely not risk getting a detention." Hermione said strictly.

"Cool," Sirius smirked.

Hermione chewed her lip in thought. She didn't want them to go around doing some horribly dangerous prank, or something that would get them in lots of trouble. But then again, she wanted revenge on the Slytherins as well. "There are lots of muggle pranks that wouldn't involve magic. I know some cruel pranks, but would you really want to do that?"

"Yeah! Lay it on me."

Hermione listened to his words and it hit her. "Eggs!"

Sirius gave her a confused look, "What?" Across the table, Remus was also eyeing her suspicsiously.

"Well, I don't know how it would work out, but there's this thing some muggles do. It happened to my neighbors once. Sometimes, they cover people's houses in toilet paper, and throw eggs." Hermione explained, trying not to sound crazy.

"How is that cruel? No offence to your muggle culture, but it sounds a bit pointless," Sirius struggled to grasp the idea.

Hermione frowned, "you just don't get it. When they throw the toilet paper and eggs, it's really hard to clean it off, especially if it's rainy or cold out. And then eventually, their house will smell like rotten eggs and they'll have scraps of toilet paper everywhere."

"I think I've heard of that before," Remus muttered.

"Okay," Sirius nodded, "But how can we do that to the Slytherins? We can't go off and egg their houses while we're all here at Hogwarts."

"Yeah... I suppose if you could get into the common room..." Hermione trailed off.

"Yeah! And maybe I can get the password out of Reg!" Sirius stood up excitedly.

"Your brother?"

Sirius nodded, "I bet I can find out the password, then we can sneak in there in the middle of the night or something. But we'll have to use some sort of sticking spell to make sure it can't be removed," He muttered quietly to himself, "But it could work! And they'd be so angry!"

"Are you sure you want to risk sneaking into the Slytherin common room?" Remus asked anxiously.

"We can do it," Sirius waved his friend off, "I need to go tell James and Peter!" He was just about to run off before he seemed to remember something. "Thanks, Hermione," He whispered, picking her chin up to kiss her before bounding out of the library.

Hermione shook her head, "They're just going to get in trouble."

"Agreed," Remus responded as they both went back to sorting through the many books on the table.

* * *

Hermione casually leaned her head on Sirius' shoulder as they headed toward a staircase. They were going off to DADA, and taking their time since they had at least five extra minutes. As they walked, Hermione spotted a group of students up ahead in the hallway. It wasn't until her and Sirius had gotten close that she realized it was a bunch of Slytherin girls, probably in their same year.

"Great," Sirius mumbled angrily as the girls seemed to notice them.

"Look, it's Black," One of the girls said, turning away from the group and towards the approaching couple. She had long brown hair and a thin form. Hermione could see her aristocratic status just by the way she carried herself.

"Can I help you ladies?" Sirius asked, trying to remain calm. Hermione grabbed his hand firmly, making sure he stayed level headed. She knew these girls wanted trouble, and she wouldn't allow them to get a rise out of Sirius.

Another girl from the group walked forward. This girl, Hermione recognized. Her name was Anika, and she was in Hermione's DADA class. "I find it odd that you haven't ditched this one yet," Anika smirked, motioning towards Hermione.

"Let's go, Sirius," Hermione mumbled.

Sirius nodded in agreement, ready to continue down the hallway before Anika's friend spoke again, "Honey, he's just using you," She said to Hermione, "even you should have figured that out by now."

Hermione felt her anger bubble. Next to her, Sirius seemed to be preparing to scream at them, but she got there first. "You're just jealous no guy wants you," Hermione said sharply, turning to face the Slytherins, "I'm not surprised." She looked the girl up and down, then raised an eyebrow.

Anika sneered and prepared to retaliate before Sirius cut in, grabbing Hermione and kissing her quickly. Hermione felt her cheeks blush as he kissed her in front of all of the other girls. After a moment, he leaned back and sent Anika and her friend an obscene hand gesture before leading Hermione off down the hallway.

"Don't listen to them," Sirius muttered angrily.

Hermione looked up to him a smiled, "I wouldn't. Those kind of things never get to me."

Sirius nodded, "Well I'm glad for that."

"Me too," Hermione sighed, once again resting her head against Sirius' shoulder. She quickly forgot their encounter in the hallway, and it never entered her mind again.


	18. Plans

**Chapter 18: Plans**

A flutter of owls swooped into the Great Hall, dropping off various pieces of mail for the students below. Sun light filled up the room on a happy Saturday morning. The only part of the room that seemed to be unhappy was the Slytherin table. A recent prank had been pulled two nights earlier by a group of "mystery" students. Hermione giggled alongside the boys and Lily as many of the Slytherins entered for breakfast, still smelling of the remnants of rotten eggs.

"Are we going to the library, then?" Remus asked, looking to Hermione.

"Yeah," Hermione smiled, buttering her toast, "Lily, you still want to come?"

The readhead looked away from James, whom she was whispering to absently, "Hm? Oh, yeah, the library. Sure." She nodded to Hermione and Remus.

"You guys are _studying_?" Sirius asked, shock laced in his voice.

Hermione turned to the animagus with a raised eyebrow, "Yes, we are."

"Aw, come on!" he complained, "We were gonna go down the lake, you guys have got to come!"

"Yeah," James agreed, "You can't be studying all the time."

Hermione considered it. She _had_ been studying a lot lately. Maybe she could use a break, and going down to the Black Lake was always one of her favorite activities at Hogwarts. Besides, she still didn't know if she really needed to take the NEWTs, after all. Would they even count if she was twenty years in the past? She looked to Remus, who just shrugged, seeming open to the idea. Then she looked to Lily, who was currently grinning at James while he entwined his fingers with hers.

"I guess we could go down to the lake for a while," Hermione said, "maybe we can study a little while we're there."

"Great," Sirius gave her a brilliant smile, "We'll go after we finish breakfast."

* * *

"I think too much studying is making you stressed out," Sirius observed, an arm around Hermione as they walked to the lake.

"Stress can be good, sometimes," Hermione mumbled.

"I don't understand you," Sirius responded, smiling and shaking his head.

Hermione kept a straight face, only elbowing him slightly as they moved along. The others were ahead of them. James and Lily were still inseperable since breakfast, walking just ahead of Hermione and Sirius. Remus and Peter were in front of the two couples, discussing something quietly.

The group passed a place that was very familiar to Hermione. It was where the path tO Hagrid's hut met the path down to the Black Lake. She had walked this way at least a thousand times, but now she really remembered what had happened here in third year. This was where she had slapped Draco Malfoy across the face. She let a silent smirk slip as she remembered Draco's look of painful horror.

"What?" Sirius asked, noticing her expression.

"Oh, nothing," Hermione muttered, waving him off.

Within a short amount of time, the group had reached the lake, and took their seats on the rocky shore. It was an oddly warm day for mid january, but all students were talking full advantage of the sun. Many others could be spotted out and about on the grounds, enjoying the spring-like weather. The Black Lake looked beautiful, shimmering as small waves lapped the shore. Hermione sat next to Sirius, leaning into him and burying her head into his chest breifly as a colder breeze passed. She let her head rest there for a while after, enjoying the feel of his warm robes and his hand on her back.

James nodded off to some Slytherin girls who gave the group seething looks as they walked by. "They're really pissed off, huh?"

"Well, I think we got them good," Peter added proudly.

"I can still see the looks on their faces when they came into breakfast yesterday," James added, "and when that fifth year started whining about his potions essay smelling bad."

Sirius barked out a laugh, Hermione could hear it rumbling deep in his chest, causing a smile to grace her face despite the cruelty he was laughing at.

"We've got to watch out for them trying to retaliate," James noted.

Sirius nodded in agreement, "They always try to fight back."

"Well, you guys probably shouldn't worry about that now. We've got a Quidditch match coming up." Remus said, leaning back against a shady tree. He was right, there was a fairly important match coming up against Ravenclaw within a few weeks.

"We can beat them easily," James waved his hand nonchalantly.

"Yeah, we're going to win the house cup." Sirius said with an air of confidence.

"Easily," Peter agreed.

Lily joined the conversation, staring up at the castle, which they could see from their position. "What will we do after Hogwarts?" She asked, eyes staring lovingly at the castle that was their home, "Honestly, I don't know what's going to happen after we leave. No more Quidditch, no more classes, no more Hogsmeade weekends..."

Hermione felt a pang of guilt and sadness. _I know what's going to happen...I know exactly what's going to happen after you leave Hogwarts. _She told herself, counting how many months they had until it happened. She imagined what would occur on that night. That dreadful Halloween when everything changed. The young witch looked around her group of friends and it really hit her that they had no clue of the magnitude of their existence. But of course, Hermione couldn't say anything to them. She couldn't change history. She was already interfering enough by being so close to them.

"Well I know what I'm going to do," James said suddenly, "I'll be an auror."

"And what about me?" Lily sat up, folding her arms, "Where do I fit into this?"

James smiled, "You'll be there too, don't worry love." Lily smiled and leaned back into James, a quaint smile on her face.

"What about you guys?" James asked the rest of the group.

"I don't know yet," Remus shrugged, "It'd be cool to work at a bookstore or something. Maybe Flourish and Blotts."

"That would be nice," Hermione agreed.

"What about you, Sirius?" Lily asked.

"Well," Sirius began with a gallant smile, "Me and Hermione are going to travel the world and meet all kinds of Witches and Wizards." He smiled fondly at the bushy haired witch, "Maybe we'll live as muggles for a while, then you can show me all about your muggle society."

Hermione considered what he had said for a moment. To be honest, it sounded wonderful. She could just imagine this amazing life with Sirius at her side. Images of her and him visiting France to see the eiffel tower, and getting coffee at little cafes filled her mind. A great happiness lifted her heart at the thought that Sirius wanted to spend his future with her. Even if it was wrong, and she knew that at the back of her mind, she couldn't deny that she adored the idea. "That'd be nice," She smiled back up at him.


	19. Home

**Chapter 19: Home**

"Moony, what's this?" Sirius asked, picking up a small slip of parchment that had fallen out of Remus' bag.

"Nothing," Remus snatched the paper out of Sirius' grip, shoving it into the pocket of his robes.

"You're acting very suspicious," Sirius narrowed his eyes.

There were five of them, sitting out in the courtyard and lounging about. Lily hadn't joined them today, deciding to stick around inside. So the group lounged around on the grass outside, Hermione mulled through her Transfiguration textbook while Sirius played with her hair. A couple minutes earlier, he had expressed his disbelief in how curly it was. She just laughed and allowed him to continued plucking and running him fingers through her wild mane. James, Remus, and Peter were also there, sitting lazily on he grass. James had the usual snitch, swiping it from the air, and then relasing it from his hand, only to repeat the process again. Peter was watching James, and occasionally giving the whole courtyard a nervous scan. Remus was also a bit on edge, Hermione had just assumed that the full moon was coming up, but he was definitely acting odd, even for that time of the month.

"It's none of your buisness, Padfoot," Remus muttered, pulling a quill out of his bag and beginning to scrawl on another parchment.

"Hermione, have I ever told you that your hair smells amazing?" Sirius asked quietly.

Hermione giggled and blushed, "No offense Sirius, but that's kind of creepy."

"Oh, whatever, I was just giving you a compliment," He murmured.

Hermione looked around the group to see James, a suspicious smirk on his face. She followed his gaze to where Severus Snape stood, examining a book while he slowly moved through the courtyard. "Oi, look who it is," James drawled.

The witch pushed away from Sirius and narrowed her eyes at James, who wasn't watching her at all.

"Ah, Snivellus!" Sirius barked.

Peter chuckled as Snape came closer, making his way throught the little crowds of students, not paying much attention. Remus looked up for a moment, only to roll his eyes and look back down at his parchment.

"Sirius," Hermione said in a wary tone, "Don't start this."

The boy just gave her a faux-confused look and turned back to James.

"Snivellus!" James called, removing his wand and beckoning Snape's attention.

Snape looked up, sent the boys a nasty scowl, and removed his wand as well. Hermione was surprised. Were they going to start fighting? Surely, Snape would have been more mature than that, right?

"I think he's gonna try to hex you, Prongs," Sirius taunted.

"Sirius, stop!" Hermione turned to the boy behind her, giving him a sharp glare.

"Get away from me you stupid waste of space," Snape drawled. For a moment, Hermione wondered why she had expected anything other than that. Snape was always snarling insults at anyone who irritated him.

"Why, are you afraid I'll jinx your hair blue like last time?" James cockily stood up, twirling his wand. Now most of the students in the courtyard were watching them avidly.

Hermione felt her temper flare when Sirius and Peter started laughing along with James, practically cheering him on.

"You lousy idoit-" Snape muttered angrily.

"_Expelliarmus_," James disarmed Snape while he was in the middle of his sentence. Quickly, Snape's wand flew away from him, landing in James' hand. The boy smirked triumphantly.

"James!" Hermione stood up fiercely, "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?" She snarled, "you think you can just pick fights with whomever you want? You think you're doing something good? What would Lily say? Honestly! You're just being cruel!" She walked up and snatched Snape's wand out of his hand.

James blanched, frozen in place. Hermione was now standing in front of him in a fury. The whole courtyard was definitely watching them now. He just stared at Hermione with the most shocked face, as if he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words.

"I don't need your help," Snape snapped from behind her, grabbing his wand from her hand and storming out of the courtyard. Hermione looked breifly at Snape, but then quickly shook it off and returned to James.

They remained silent for a couple more seconds, before Hermione looked behind James to see the three other boys just sitting on the ground, eyes transfixed on her, "And you three!" She felt her anger bubble again, "Why do let him do this? Sirius, Peter, you just sit there laughing and cheering him on. Do you ever think about how horrible you're being? Merlin, grow up, will you!" Her eyes fell on Remus, who was frowning, "Remus, do you think you're any better? Huh? You just ignore it, and you think that makes it better? When are you gonna grow a backbone?"

Remus' face blushed red. He stood up quickly and glared at her. It was one of the only times she had ever seen him really angry. She shivered as she remembered that one day when she was alone at Grimmauld place with Harry and Ron, and they had that fight about Tonks...

Remus let out an angry breath, picked up his bag, and stormed off, not saying a word to any of them.

Hermione stood there for a moment, frozen in place while Sirius, James, and Peter all watched her in awe.

"Oh god..." Slowly, her head seemed to screw back in place, and her temper dropped all together, "What did I just do?" She muttered. James hadn't _hurt_ Snape, only disarmed him, and then she had just exploded like that.

They all just sat there, staring, and as she looked around the courtyard, many of the others were staring as well. Hermione was just frozen, looking down at the marauders, a few of the people who had come to be the center of her life. Her new life.

She re-focused her eyes on James once again, "James, I'm so sorry. I just got really angry, and I-I..." She trailed off, looking for sufficient words.

James shook his head, "It's alright." He swallowed, "I shouldn't have done that."

Hermione let out a deep breath, seeing a side of Harry in James. He was always so kind... And even though they sometimes fought, they always became friends in the end of it all. Now she looked to Sirius and Peter, who both remained on the ground. Sirius was running a hand through his hair and watching her with an unreadable expression.

"Sirius, Peter, I was being stupid, I really didn't mean any of that. I'm sorry." Even though she actually did mean a lot of what she said, she had to give up her stubborn personality. She couldn't allow them to be mad at her. Even though it was against her naturally stubborn ways, she knew that James and the others were bound to bully Snape. There was nothing she could do about it.

Sirius shook his head as a smile graced his aristocratic face. He stood and strided over to her, pulling her into a tight embrace. "No, you're right, I'm an arse," He mumbled into her mane of hair.

And in that moment, Hermione realized how attached she was to the marauders. Especially Sirius. In just a few months they had become her closest friends, and she had grown to know them so well. She smirked upon realizing that Sirius had made her a bit soft. She was now willing to give up an arguement just to earn his forgiveness. The old Hermione might have berated herself, but she honestly didn't care much. Not when Sirius was holding her like this, and she had friends like James who would forgive her so easily.

"Oh no, I need to find Remus..." Hermione mumbled while her brow furrowed.

Sirius laughed, "I don't think he'll turn up for the rest of the night, you might have to just wait until tomorrow."

Hermione nodded once she realized that it must have been around the full moon. That's why he had gotten so angry. None of the others had reacted to her little outburst so severly.

"Besides, I have a sneaking suspicion that a woman might be involved in messer Moony's life, and that's where he's been sneaking off to." Sirius grinned at James and Peter, then looked to Hermione.

"Oh there's definitely a girl," James agreed, "And I'm guessing that's where that piece of parchment came from."

"A love letter?" Peter asked, standing up while the group walked inside.

"Yeah, so now the only question is who this mystery girl might be." Sirius said, his arm around Hermione's waist as they moved through the corridor.


	20. Moony's Secrets

**Chapter 20: Moony's Secrets**

* * *

Hermione walked porposefully into Potions class, heading straight for the wizard currently hunched over his table. His sandy blond hair was frayed in a way very similar to James and his shoulders hunched while he wrote on a piece of parchment.

"Remus," Hermione smiled, moving up next to him.

He looked up and gave her a half smile while folding up his piece of parchment. Hermione squinted, trying to see it, but didn't manage a good look before he had stuffed it away in his bag.

"Hi," he said quietly, looking exhausted. Hermione knew why, of course, she had checked her astrology chart and seen that the full moon would be that night.

"Look, I'm sorry for freaking out on you yesterday." Hermione apoligized sincerely, sitting down beside him, "I was out of line."

"No," Remus shook his head, "You were right, I need to grow a backbone."

"Oh, I was just being rude, you've got plenty of backbone," she waved him off.

"No." He repeated himself, "I've always known better. I shouldn't just sit there while the others antagonize Snape, no matter how mean he is in response."

Hermione smiled, "I'm glad you said that."

"Yeah, I'm glad I realized it," He took out his cauldron and inspected the chalkboard at the front of the classroom.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked, noticing his unease, even after they had resolved the earlier problem.

Remus was silent for a long time. He looked to her concerned face, then down at his cauldron, then back up to her. "Not exactly..." The quiet answer came, "Well, it's nothing you need to worry about." He contemplated it for another moment, pausing, "Look, I have to tell you something, but I can't do it here. I'll tell you in the common room tonight, with the others."

Hermione nodded and Remus turned off to go get some supplies for their potion. When he was far enough away, she let herself smile happily. _He's gonna tell you!_ She had finally earned his trust, and he was going to let her in on his biggest secret.

She chatted casually with him the rest of class, content to know that he trusted her so much.

* * *

"Oi, Moony told me you'll be having a little conversation with him." Sirius strided over to Hermione and snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her up to kiss him. She grinned uncontrollably and blushed, realizing that they were in a very public corridor outside the Great Hall.

"That we are," Hermione confirmed, falling back on her heels and proceeding to move down the hallway with him, "Are you going to be there?"

He nodded, "James and Lily too."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. So Remus was ready to tell Lily as well. That was interesting. The witch couldn't keep out a tiny itch in the back of her mind saying that maybe she had brought this group of friends closer, Lily in particuliar. After all, Hermione had been the one to finally convince Lily to go out on a date with James all those months ago... But then again, they naturally would have ended up being the closest of friends anyways. Lily would know about Remus' Lycanthropy eventually, whether a time traveler interfered or not.

"So how was your day?" Hermione questioned, entwining her fingers with his and smiling contently.

He shrugged, "Normal as ever, a bit boring at times. And yours?"

"It was actually quite nice, aside from the fact that I was worrying about Remus half the time."

He pulled her closer while they moved towards Gryffindor Common Room, and the time of their meeting with the others approached. Upon arrrival, they greeted Remus, James, and Lily, then moved to sit in a corner of the semi-filled Common Room. Most of the other Gryffindors were a group of third years, playing a game of Exploding Snap by the fire. They all shreiked when a Bowtruckle card spontaneously burst into flames. Hermione grinned, remembering a time when Ron singed his eyebrows during a game of Exploding Snap.

Hermione sat next to Sirius, with James and Lily to her right, and Remus across a small table from all of them.

"Alright then, Moony, are you ready to get this done with, mate?" James asked, trying to lighten the mood, which seemed to be growing dimmer from Remus' clear anxiety.

"Yeah," Remus sighed, "Hermione, Lily, I need to tell you guys something really important, and I'm not exactly sure how you guys will react. Just know that I understand if things change because of this."

Lily gave Hermione a worried look, but Hermione just focused intently on Remus.

"Things won't change," Sirius said, trying to assure his friend.

Hermione knew Remus was wallowing in his nerves, and she really wanted to make this easier on him...maybe she could...

"Is something wrong?" Lily asked, concern laced in her voice.

"No, it'll be fine," Remus shook his head.

"Then what is it?" The redhead asked.

Remus seemed to debate inwardly for a moment. After a while, he made the spontaneous decision to just come right out and say it, "I'm...um...I'm a werewolf," His voice was hushed so nobody else in the room could hear, but the four around him could easily pick up what he had whispered.

Lily seemed to be struggling with it for a moment. She took a breath as if to speak, but closed her mouth instead, remaining silent. The shock had apparently rendered her speechless.

"I know."

It was Hermione who had broken the silence. She said it with a neutral tone, but a friendly smile on her face.

"Wh-what?" Remus' eyes bolted to her, as did Sirius', James', and Lily's.

"You knew?" James asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I've know for a long time." She shrugged at Remus, trying to keep an encouraging smile on her face.

"How?"

Even if this wasn't the completely true way she found out, Hermione could at least tell part of the truth. "You've been out sick every month on the full moon for the whole year. Plus, I think I've heard _someone_ mention a certain 'Furry Little Problem' Several times. I just connected the dots."

"Wait, _that's_ what you guys meant?" Lily finally found her voice, narrowing her eyes at James.

James and Sirius chuckled, but Remus refused to stop looking at Hermione in disbelief. "I guess you could pick up on that after all of my absences..." He trailed off quietly.

Sirius put an arm around Hermione's shoulders, "You've always frightened me a bit with your intelligence."

"I'm just observant," Hermione smiled at him.

"Wait... So you're okay with it?" Remus was still obviously shocked

"Yes." Hermione said confidently, "I know you, Remus. Just because you're inflicted with Lycanthropy doesn't make me want to run away and hide from you."

He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look at Lily.

She noticed her cue, "I feel the same way. Even though I may not have picked up on it like Hermione, I still understand it. It doesn't change who you are."

Remus let out another exhausted sigh, "Thank Merlin," he mumbled.

"So, any questions? Because we need to be off soon. After all, it is the full moon tonight," James said.

"What do you mean _we_ need to be off soon?" Lily asked.

Hermione easily could of answered that question, but it probably would scare them even more if she revealed that she knew that too.

"We always go out to the Shreiking Shack with Remus on the full moon," James answered, "Because we're animagi, we can be there with him, without the danger of being bitten."

"Wow," Lily breathed.

Hermione nodded.

Lily kept asking questions about Lycanthropy and Remus's situation for a while, but eventually, Remus indicated that the boys had to get going.

"I'm sure Hermione can answer any more questions you have, Lily," Remus stood up, "She seems to have done her research."

Hermione chewed her lip and nodded.

"Wait," Lily stood up with them, "I've got one more question."

"Go on," Remus said a bit impatiently.

"Who's your girlfriend?" Lily questioned, eyebrows raised as she held up a piece of parchment.

Remus blanched while Sirius and James rushed to Lily's side, trying to read the paper.

The Werewolf just shook his head and quickly grabbed the paper from Lily, "How did you get that?"

"You left it lying out of the ground," She shrugged, "so who's this _Maddie_?"

"_Maddie_?" Sirius whispered the name, "Oi! Is it that Ravenclaw girl?" He jumped with excitement.

Remus seemed to be fuming with embarassment and annoyance, "I'll explain later, but we've really got to go."

James and Sirius agreed, following Remus out of the common room while asking multitudes of questions about this girl.

Hermione grinned at Lily, who sat down next to her with the same smile. They spent most of the evening discussing their werewolf friend and all the new things they had learned about him in one night.


	21. Flight

A/N: Thanks to Galgalatz for the OC, and thanks to everyone else who submitted them!

* * *

**Chapter 21: Flight**

Remus was still out sick the next morning in Potions, and Hermione realized that this most likely meant that she would be paired off with Snape again. That could arise to a few problems, judging by how irritated he had been when she had stood up for him a few days prior. And of course, as Hermione guessed, Snape was her partner for Potions.

"Hi," Hermione greeted him nervously, sitting at the table beside him. She supposed that she was partly lucky to be paired up with him today; they were preparing a potion that would appear on the NEWT test. Even though Hermione had always been exceptional at Potions, it never hurt to have the future Potions Master as her partner.

Snape nodded at her and examined the board, where the location of the instructions in their textbook were written.

It was a while before either spoke, and they were alrady preparing ingredients when Snape piped up, "I've realized that I may have acted rash the other day," He paused, and Hermione looked at him in shock when he continued, "Thank you... For defending me."

Hermione almost let her jaw drop. Snape. _Thanking her_. It was definitely a strange day. After Hermione settled her mind, she responded. "You're welcome," were the only words that left her mouth.

It was then that Hermione realized that she was maybe getting somewhere with him. In some people's eyes, the two might have even been friends. It was a huge change in the dynamic of their relationship. Hermione furrowed her brow. _They had a relationship now_? _Did that mean she had to start calling him 'Severus' or something?_ She shook the thought away, giving him a little smile and continuing on with the potion brewing.

"Have you been preparing for NEWTs?" Hermione asked, trying to make causal conversation.

He nodded, "I've spent a bit of time studying."

"Me too," she sighed, "It's exhausting."

"It will be more exhausting for those especially dim students who choose not to study until the last minute." Snape noted in a monotone.

Hermione laughed, and saw him smile while he looked down at the potion. _Yep, we're definitely developing somewhat of a friendship_.

They continued talking, which was quite a change from the other times she had been paired with him each month.

"Slughorn has gained a few pounds," Snape motioned to the Potions Professor who was wobbling along a couple rows ahead, "Looks like he can't even hold himself up."

Hermione nodded with a little laugh, trying not to berate her partner for being so mean. At least he wasn't making fun of _her_.

The rest of potions passed in a blur, and by the end, Hermione was sure that their concoction was perfect when they turned it into Slughorn.

* * *

"Are you ready to introduce us, then, Moony?" Sirius asked across the table, where Remus was nervously running a hand through his hair.

The group of them sat in the Great Hall at dinner. Remus had returned from his absense during the full moon, and now the others were all pestering him into introducing them to his 'special friend' as James called her.

"Aw, come on, Remus, we really want to meet her! Don't you want your girlfriend to know your best friends?" Lily asked.

"She's not really my _girlfriend_..." Remus mumbled.

"Then what is she?" Sirius challenged.

Remus paused, opening his mouth, closing it, then finally opening it again, "Okay, I suppose she's my girlfriend."

Hermione grinned, "We'd be really nice, and I'm sure she wants to meet us too."

"Fine," Remus exhaled, "I'll go get her."

Sirius let out a woot as Remus moved away from their table, heading for the Ravenclaws.

Hermione leaned into Sirius, who sat beside her. "Are you watching me?" She questioned timidly, after finding that his eyes were fixed on her.

"Yes." Sirius stated simply, and continued to study the witch beside him.

Hermione shook her head, and looked over to where a couple was heading towards their table. She saw the nervous smile on Remus' face as he looked at the girl next to him. The girl had short brown hair that fell straight down her shoulders. As she approached them, Hermione saw a bit of shyness in the way she moved. When the girl finally arrived at the table, Hermione recognized her, she had seen this girl in the library several times before.

"Guys, this is Madeline Walker," Remus said, motioning to the girl beside him.

She grinned and looked at the group of them, "You guys can call me Maddie."

"Hi!" Lily said happily, "We've been wanting to meet you forever."

Maddie blushed and Remus motioned for her to sit down beside him, "This is Peter, James, Lily, Hermione, and Sirius," he introduced the witch to their group.

"Nice to meet you," James grinned.

"Yeah, you all too," Maddie said quietly.

Hermione started to notice that this girl was quite shy, but then again, so was Remus, and she would probably open up more when she got to know them. Hermione was just happy that Remus found a girl to be with.

"So tell us about yourself," Lily began, "You're not in our year, right?"

Maddie nodded, "I'm only a sixth year...In Ravenclaw."

Sirius grinned, "Moony," he drawled, "are we cradle robbing, now?"

Hermione elbowed Sirius lightly, and he chuckled.

They continued chatting through the remainder of dinner, and the more Hermione learned about Maddie, the more she wanted to be friends with her. This girl was a hard worker, and had been in the library, nose deep in a book, many times when Hermione had visited. She seemed very responsible and trustworthy; although Herione doubted that Remus had told her of his Lycanthropy, she guessed that when he did, this girl wouldn't mind.

"I think I need to get going," Maddie said, yawning. The Great Hall was almost empty now, and many students had surely retreated to their common rooms.

"Alright, see you tomorrow," Remus said, squeezing her hand before Maddie departed with a smile.

"She's a keeper," James nodded toward the retreating witch.

"Oi, don't say it like she's a object," Lily scoleded James, then turned to Remus, "She seems wonderful, Remus."

"I agree, you should bring her around to eat with us more often," Hermione spoke up.

Remus nodded his agreement, "Well, I'm ready to get out of here, you guys wanna head to the common room?"

The group was just leaving the Great Hall when Sirius pulled Hermione aside, telling the rest of them to go on.

"What's up?" Hermione asked.

Sirius took her hand and pulled the bushy haired witch down the corridor, "I want to go for a walk."

Hermione let a content smile spread over her lips. She loved walking with Sirius; it had been her favorite activity over the past couple of months. Slowly, she realized that they were making their way towards the Astronomy tower. She breifly wondered if it would be open, but as their luck would have it, it was. They ventured up until the couple was standing on the edge of a rail, looking out at the courtyard and the forbidden forest beyond.

Hermione shivered and moved closer to Sirius, who put an arm around her waist.

"You really need to start studying for the NEWTs with me," Hermione broke the silence, looking up at him.

He raised an eyebrow, "I can't start studying yet, we've still got a month or two."

"Sirius, it's already Spring," she motioned to the scenery behind her. It was fairly warm outside, and a cool breeze whistled past every once in a while.

"Alright, fine, I'll study with you," he murmured, moving closer so he could kiss her.

They stayed like that for a long time. Hermione wound her arms around his neck, kissing him back as he put one hand on her cheek, and another on her waist. She dreamily smiled when he pulled away for air, giggling when he placed another kiss on the tip of her nose.

"Hermione..." He whispered, resting his forehead oh hers as he spoke.

"What?" She asked when he didn't say anything for a long moment.

"I... I've never said this before, but..." He twirled a finger in her hair, speaking nervously, "Hermione, I love you."

It was as if the world stopped moving in that moment. Hermione repeated the words in her head several times, trying to understand.

But there wasn't any logic to this.

Hermione Granger had always understood. There was always a method or a formula, but not for this. She pulled away from him a stared into his eyes. No, there was no way of measuring what she saw looking at her. His eyes stared deeply at her, darkened with passion, and fear, and many other emotions she didn't understand.

_Is this love?_

The world was crashing down on her as she took another step back and her eyes filled with tears.

_This isn't okay, Hermione._

Sirius looked heartbroken as he gave her a questioning look.

_I need to get away_.

Hermione began taking shaky breaths, stepping back every time Sirius stepped forward.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his eyes looking more hurt than she had ever seen them.

Hermione tried to speak but choked on a sob.

_I need to run._

Once the thought entered her mind, there was nothing else other than flight. She bolted away, ignoring Sirius' desperate calls from behind her as she moved through corridor after corridor.


	22. Aftershock

**Chapter 22: Aftershock**

Hemione arrived at the Gryffindor Common Room with flushed red cheeks a shaky breaths. She spotted James, Remus, Peter, and Lily, who all sat around the fireplace. Both Remus and Lily noticed Hermione as she rushed past the portrait, but she ignored them, swiftly climbing up to her dormitory.

The solitude of the room helped her as she struggled to regain composure through the tears and shortness of breath.

_This is so wrong. Sirius Black is in love with me._

The witch ran frantic hands through her bushy mane as she paced back and forth through her room. She fumbled with the buttons of her blouse, deciding that it was uncomfortable. With a flurry, Hermione summoned a loose tee shirt and then changed her skirt and settled into a curled up ball on her bed.

Her mind was racing. There were too many things running around, pounding on her brain, giving her a headache.

She had never imagined it would go this far, she always thought of it as nothing serious. It couldn't do much harm if she wasn't in a serious relationship with him. But for all these past weeks of fun and happiness, she had just pushed her worries and precautions to the back of her mind; neglecting to follow the rules of time travel.

_They were never supposed to have known you in the first place._

Hermione Granger was not a Marauder. She was just a friend of James' son. She was never supposed to get tangled up with their lives, and she definitely wasn't supposed to get tangled up with _Sirius Black._

As Hermione tried to calm herself, willing the tears to stop, she remembered a few things. There were suddenly a few moments that stood out to her from the past. There had been that one time, at Grimmauld place, over the summer before her fifth year...

oOo

_Hermione walked into the library, ready to sit down with a large book and her mug of tea for a couple hours. However, she found that her favorite chair had been taken by Remus. He was sitting there with an upset look on his face, looking at an exhausted Sirius, who sat on the couch across from him._

_"Oh, sorry to intrude, I just want to get a book, then I'll get out of here," Hermione said, realizing that she was disrupting an important conversation._

_Remus looked up at her and his eyes grew wide for a moment before he regained composure and shook his head, "Oh no, Hermione, please make yourself comfortable, Sirius and I were just talking. You can stay, we're all sharing this library."_

_Hermione nodded uncertainly, and watched as Sirius turned to look at her. When their eyes met, she could see some sort of deep pain and almost... Anger in his eyes. He had looked horrible these past couple of days, Harry's arrival to Grimmauld was still being delayed by Dumbledore, and that seemed to put Sirius in a bad mood. Multiple times over the past week, Molly had scolded Sirius for using foul language in front of the kids, or retreating to his room like a hermit for many hours. He just didn't seem capable of cheering up until Harry arrived, at least that was what they hoped._

_Sirius moved his gaze away from the witch entering the library, and back to Remus. Hermione still felt like she was intruding on a very private conversation as she moved to search for her book among the shelves._

_"You always knew you'd have to deal with this eventually, Padfoot," Remus murmured, continuing their conversation. Hermione furrowed her brow as she faced the bookshelf, trying to decipher what they were talking about._

_"Of course I knew, but it's all been a lot to take in..." Sirius began to respond, but trailed off quietly. His voice sounded exhausted._

_Hermione picked the book she wanted off the shelf and decided that she needed to get out of here. Sirius and Remus were having an important conversation that they didn't want her to know about, and the whole atmosphere was bringing her mood down to a dismal state._

_"I think I'm going to read in the Drawing Room," Hermione said, beginning to move back toward her exit._

_"Are you sure? You can read in here if you'd like," Remus responded, his eyes flicking up from Sirius._

_"No, it's fine, I told Ron I'd hang out with him anyways."_

_Remus nodded, and Hermione backed out of the room. She got the strangest feeling from the way Sirius and Remus were both looking at her. They seemed to be studying her intently, now that she thought about it, both of them were doing that a lot lately. It had made it quite awkward for her to be in the same room as either of them._

_She entered the hallway and let out a sigh of relief, moving away from the library with the strange men inside of it._

_oOo_

Hermione shivered at the memory and pulled a blanket up to cover herself with. As she thought more and more of her time with Remus and Sirius, she began to pick many of those memories out. Sirius had always looked at her in a strange way now that she thought about it, and she didn't even want to start thinking about that night she first met him in her third year.

It sort of clicked in that moment. Maybe this was actually how the past was supposed to be. Maybe Hermione hadn't changed the timeline by being involved with these people, and maybe that was just how things worked.

That thought took a lot of weight off of the young witch's chest, but it also left another thought.

_This doesn't change the fact that they're gonna die. James and Lily will still be murdered by Voldemort. Peter will still become a traitor. Sirius will still fall into the veil. Remus will still die alongside Tonks._

She felt hopeless. It was an odd feeling, considering the fact that Hermione Granger rarely ever felt hopeless. She always had a plan, always a way to work through her problems using her knowledge and Gyffindor courage. But this was different. She was in too deep. Over her head.

"Hermione!" Lily called, opening the door to their dormitory and entering quickly.

Hermione sat up and wiped a few stray tears from her face. Lily was bound to come up here eventually, especially after Sirius returned to the common room and told them what happened.

"What happened?" The redhead asked, slightly irritated but mostly concerned.

"You mean you don't know?" Hermione questioned shakily, "didn't Sirius tell you?"

"No. He stormed up to his room, just like you." Lily sat on the edge of the bed next to her friend, "so what happened, did you guys get into a fight?" A sad look crossed her face, "Did you break up?"

"No...well...I don't really know." Hermione mumbled, wondering for the first time where this left them. Would Sirius forgive her? Would she ever be able to talk to him again?

"Tell me what happened," Lily said, taking Hermione's hand comfortingly.

"He said he loves me."

Lily looked shocked, "And you didn't say it back?"

"No, I couldn't just say I love him. It's not that simple," Hermione mumbled.

"Why, do you not love him?" The red head asked. It seemed like she was very confident of the fact that Hermione did love him.

"Well..." Hermione couldn't really find the words to answer that.

_Do I love him?_

She thought back to this year, and all the happiness it held. Her life was bleak and seemingly pointless before she came back here to the past. She had so many bright memories of these months. Days by the lake with Sirius, watching the Marauders getting into trouble, cheering in the stands of Quidditch games, kissing Sirius goodnight, holding his hand as they walked through the courtyard. It was all just perfect in her memory.

"I think I do," She finally answered the question.

Lily raised an eyebrow, "So why couldn't you tell him?"

_Because I'm not supposed to be in love with him. I'm from a different time. He's my best friend's Godfather for heavens sake. He's dead._

_I'm in love with a dead man._

"I- I don't know," Hermione whispered.

Lily rolled her eyes, "you look exhausted, just get some sleep and think about this. I'm going to talk to James."

Hermione nodded, breifly considering how much Lily sounded like her mum. She would be a perfect mother one day...

The door closed behind Lily and Hermione was left alone with her thoughts, which only seemed to become worse with each passing moment.

She just couldn't stay here like this. She had to get back to her time, with Harry and Ron. Her heart ached as she remembered her best friends. She had barely missed them. They probably missed her. She just needed to see them, to go back. But that probably wouldn't happen, judging by the fact that she had no control over her time travel. She was probably stuck here.

Hermione leaned her head back on the pillow and found sleep easily relieving her exhausted body.


	23. Secrets Revealed

**Chapter 23: Secrets Revealed**

Lily burst through the door to a bleakly lit dormitory, her red hair was tied back as she hastily moved over to Hermione's bed. "Alright, Hermione, you need to get out of this room. You've been practically living in here for days. You have to go out there and face this, like the Gryffindor you are."

Hermione gave Lily a doubtful look, and considered what she had said. It had been a long time since she had ventured out from her dormitory, and she hadn't spoken a word to Sirius since then. Hermione may have been a Gryffindor, but she couldn't be brave when dealing with things like this. This was out of her league, time travel was not something a normal Hogwarts student should have to deal with. But then again, Hermione was not a normal Hogwarts student.

The previous day, she had wanted to return home, to get out of this time and go back to Harry and Ron and her family. Today, however, these feelings were changing. Every moment she spent away from Sirius, her heart began to sink even more. She really knew that she was in love with him now, and she wondered if he was feeling the same way.

"What am I supposed to say to him?" Hermione asked the witch who stood in front of her with hands on her hips.

"Tell him why you ran away, tell him that you love him." Lily answered easily, moving to sit on the edge of Hermione's bed.

"I can't just tell him..." She trailed off.

"Look, Hermione, I don't really understand what's going on, and I know that there's something you're keeping from me, but please, at least tell Sirius. We both know that you love him, and he deserves to know. Don't you want him to know? Don't you want to see him again, and not have it keep going on like this?"

Hermione considered it. It would be so much easier if she just told him. She could imagine a life where he knew what had happened to her, and they could blissfully understand eachother.

This was what she had to do.

Even if this was breaking the most important rule of time travel, she could tell him. One person wouldn't make that much of a difference, especially if she didn't tell him anything about the future, only that she was from a different time.

"Ok."

Lily smiled warmly and helped Hermione out of her bed, proceeding to fix the girl's hair and give her a kind hug. "Go get your man back."

Hermione smiled and moved to the doorway, exiting towards the Common Room, where she hoped to find one Sirius Black.

He was sitting at a table in the corner, absorbed in a game of chess with Remus. Sirius seemed upset and rather tired. Hermione immediately felt bad, knowing that this was completely her doing. Why didn't she just say she loved him in the first place? Now she had to go and explain everything, divulging one of her biggest secrets... But maybe this was for the better, he needed to know.

The bushy haired witch took a deep breath and stepped towards the two Marauders. Sirius looked up, sensing her movement. His face immediately hardened, she could tell that he was trying to not show the pain. Remus looked up a moment later, eyes widening as he did a double take of the two of them. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Hi... I was wondering if we could talk?" Hermione asked nervously as she fiddled with the edge of her tee shirt.

Sirius was silent for a long moment, and she wondered if he would say no, but then Remus swooped in. "Go, Padfoot," Remus murmured in an authorative tone.

Sirius eyed Remus for a moment, "You don't mind?" He pointed to their now abandoned chess game. If asked, Hermione would have said that he was just looking for an excuse to stay, and didn't care about their game much.

The werewolf shook his head, "Nah, I told Maddie that I'd meet her anyways."

Hermione mouthed a silent "Thank you" at Remus as she followed Sirius out of the common room.

Once outside, Sirius jammed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and started walking down the corridor.

_Shit, he's mad._

Hermione kept up with him, walking at his side for many quiet moments.

"So are you going to explain yourself?" There was a sting in his voice that went straight to her heart.

"I want to explain it... But it's really complicated," she mumured.

"What, you think I can't handle it?" He was speaking sharply, a way she had known the older Sirius to sound like very often.

"No, it's not that-"

"You just don't care."

"No, Sirius, please-" Her eyes were beginning to water.

"Do you realize how hard that was for me?" He turned to stare her straight in the eyes, "I've never done that before, I've never said that I loved someone. I'm not some over-emotional prat, Hermione. That was really how I felt, and you just ran away!" His voice was filling the corridor, echoing through the stone walls.

"Please, let me explain," tears were welling up in her eyes.

"Don't," he mumbled, turning to start walking back down the corridor.

She walked right behind him, grabbing his arm and trying her hardest to pull him back, "Sirius, I love you!" She was full on crying now.

He stopped. They stood there for too long, while he faced away from her in silence. After he didn't speak, she took it as her cue to continue, "I've loved you for a long time, I think it was ever since Christmas. Sirius, I'm head over hells for you, and it actually hurts to stay away. The reason I ran away like that is because I was afraid. I was a coward for doing so, but I can explain why if you'll let me... You see, I'm not supposed to be with you, I was never supposed to fall in love with you, there are these...rules saying I can't. But Sirius, I want you. I honestly could care less about those rules now, because I love you way too much. I love you more than anything."

He turned around qucikly and embraced her, pulling her body up against his. She let out a gasp as he kissed her. It took her a moment to register, but then the joy set in. She had missed this feeling too much. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he put one arm on her waist and the other in her bushy hair. After he pulled away, he evaluated her, searching her face and wiping away a few stray trears.

"You've got some explaining to do, then," he smiled warmly and took her hand, leading the witch down the corridor. She was surprised by how easily he had turned his anger into affection, but maybe he had missed her so much that he was ready to forgive.

"Alright, well, I don't know if you'll believe this, but I suppose you need to know," Hermione mumbled, still unsure.

"Just tell me."

She nodded and began, "I'm not from here. You know that much, but what you don't know is that the question isn't really where I'm from, but instead, _when_ I'm from."

He gave her a puzzled look.

She took a deep breath "I'm a time traveler. Plain and simple. I'm from the future and I'm not supposed to be here, but from what I've gathered, I was sent back here by accident."

"Time travel?" He murmured in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but I used this thing, called a Time Turner-you might have heard of it- when I was little, I was actually in my third year here at Hogwarts. From what I understand, Time Turners have a few side effects, and I got the worst of them. That leads me to believe that it was the after effect which sent me back in time."

"..._you went to Hogwarts_?"

It took her a minute to realize that she had accidentally let that slip, "Oh, well, yes, but you aren't supposed to know that, and it's not the point. I've been pretending that I've never been here before."

"What time are you from, then?" He seemed to be having a hard time wrapping his mind around this.

"I don't know if I should tell you..."

"Why not?"

"It's not that bad for me to tell you that I'm a time traveler than to reveal actual things that will happen in the future." She furrowed her brow, "I don't want to ruin the timeline."

"So where does this leave us?" He asked cautiously.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to return to your original time eventually?"

_That_ was the big question. "I'm not sure." She responded, "But I don't really think I will, I mean, I've been here for months already, with no sign that my time here is coming to a close."

"Well I'm glad of that."

"Me too."

"Do you miss the people from your old time?"

She nodded, wondering what was happening back home without her.

They walked in silence, "Do you know me in the future?"

Hermione let in a sharp breath. She knew this question was coming. Could she lie? She didn't want to... "Here's the deal, I'll answer one question, this one, and then you can't ask me anything else about the future, okay?"

He contemplated it, then nodded.

"Yes, I know you in the future."

She could see all the other questions fill his mind, but a stern look told him that she wouldn't answer them.

They continued walking until Sirius suggested that they go back to the common room before they got caught out after curfew. Soon, they had entered through the portrait hole and Sirius was bringing her over to an empty couch, where he sat down next to her. A few others were in the room, but most were absorbed in either work or talking to friends.

Hermione exhaled a breath of relief. It felt amazing to finally tell someone the secret she had been keeping for months. It was like she was so much stronger now, and she didn't have to be afraid because Sirius understood. She leaned into him and curled up against his side on the couch. The fire flickered as she stared into it, unable to stop the slow smile that lit her face.

They sat in silence for a while, loving the feel of being near eachother again. However, they were interrupted when a quiet Remus slipped through the portrait hole, not noticing the couple by the fireplace.

"Moony!" Sirius barked, making the werewolf jump.

"Oh, hi," Remus walked over and studied the two of them, "I take it that things are sorted out between you, then?"

"Yes, we're all good," Hermione grinned at him.

"Yes, yes, but we have something important to discuss: were you with Maddie this whole time?" Sirius questioned.

Remus blushed and murmured something about "studying" before he quickly fled from the common room.

Sirius chuckled and they retured to their silent happiness. Hermione was calm and comfortable, and soon found herself dozing off, only to be woken up with a rather loud crack of the wood in the fireplace.

She looked around the room to see that most other students had left. Sirius was still sitting beside her, staring at the witch with a quaint smile on his face.

"I should go upstairs," Hermione mumbled.

"Go upstairs later," he responded, and tightended his grip on her.

She didn't protest, but allowed herself to drift off once again.


	24. The War Continues

**Chapter 24: The War Continues**

Loud voices echoed out from the Great Hall as the students within ate their lunch. Hermione was making her way towards the large open doors when she saw a familiar girl walking among a Ravenclaw crowd.

"Maddie?" She called, and the girl immediately turned to look her way.

"Hi Hermione," the girl greeted her quietly with a smile.

"Are you sitting with us today?" Hermione motioned toward the Great Hall.

"Yeah, I planned to- if that's okay, of course."

"It's fine," Hermione grinned, "We love to have you, and Remus always seems happier when you're around." Maddie blushed and walked alongside Hermione inside.

"So how are things?" Hermione began to make conversation, sensing the girl's remaining shyness.

"Good, except for the fact that I have a nasty potions essay. Professor Slughorn can be pretty tough sometimes."

"I agree, though he's not the worst a teacher could be..." She trailed off, thinking of a certain Professor Snape.

"Ah, hello ladies," Sirius smirked as he saw the two girls walking towards their table.

"Hey Sirius," Hermione sat down beside him while Maddie moved to where Remus sat, across the table.

Upon looking around the table, Hermione spotted a very smug looking Lily and James, with Peter sitting besided them, obviously wondering what was going on.

"What?" Hermione asked the two.

"Nothing..." James murmured.

"We're just quite happy to see you two back together." Lily raised a brow.

"We were never really apart," Sirius responded.

"Whatever, we're happy for you, Pads," James waved him off, beginning to dig into his lunch.

Sirius gently took Hermione's hand under the table and she realized how happy she was to be back with him. It was so much easier knowing that Sirius understood her now. The past few days were wonderful now that he knew. Of course, there were times when he would ask her questions about the future, but she would just shake her head and tell him not to ask. But other than that, things were wonderful and life was so much brighter.

As lunch progressed, Hermione noticed Maddie becoming more and more comfortable with them and opening up. She really was a great girl, perfect for Remus, and Hermione knew that Maddie and herself would get along as well.

Part of the way through eating her sandwich, Hermione spotted a suspicious thing across the hall. There was a group of Slytherins sitting at their table, snickering and whispering while they motioned back over to the Gryffindor table. After a moment of closer examination, Hermione realized that one of the boys was Regulus Black. She subtly nudged Sirius beside her, who was in the middle of explaining the concept of how important Beaters were to Lily, the redhead seemed a bit irritated with his rant.

"Hmmm?" Sirius looked over to the witch beside him.

"Look over there at the Slytherin table," she motioned with her eyes to where Regulus and his friends were sitting.

Sirius narrowed his eyes at them, Hermione looked just as she saw Regulus make eye contact with Sirius and give a challenging smirk.

"He's just trying to be intimidating," Sirius grumbled.

"Who are those other boys?" Hermione questioned.

"That one on the right is Thomas Crawford, and I don't know the other."

Hermione inspected the one on the right. He had light blond hair that reminded her a bit of Draco Malfoy. The other unnamed one was large and gaunt looking, the group of them intimidated her, to be honest.

"You think they're up to something?" She questioned suspiciously.

"Maybe... I doubt it, though."

He returned to the conversation the others were having while Hermione kept a steady eye on the Slytherin table. However, after a while, she began to realize that they probably weren't up to anything worth noticing. She drifted back into the conversation, and that had had been her own mistake.

It had happened only a few moments later, in a flurry of motion, it seemed as if there was an explosion coming from the table before them. Hermione realized that it was the food; soup, sandwiches, and marmalade were exploding into the faces of the students around her. The cavernous room filled with shreiks and many yells of horror, also mixed with some laughter off in the distance.

"What the hell?" She heard Remus shout as she jumped away from the table.

"It's the Slytherins!" Sirius barked angrily, jumping up on the bench to get a better view.

Hermione looked around and saw that the Gryffindors were the only ones who had their food exploded. Among them, most faces were covered in food and grease, and robes were stained. She looked over to Regulus and his friends, finding them roaring with laughter, clutching their stomachs and tearing up. She felt a sudden surge of anger at them, but her irritation was nothing compared to what the other boys were showing. Even Remus, who was normally calm was cursing and angrily cleaning himself off. The professors at the head table seemed to be attempting to deal with the situation, but it was already out of their control.

"Let's get 'em," James growled, standing up beside Sirius and removing his wand. Sirius jerked his wand at what seemed to be Regulus' plate of food, and it erupted just like theirs had. Many Gryffindors cheered them on from across the table.

"Hermione, come on," Lily was tugging at Hermione's shirt sleeve, motioning for her to take refuge on the floor beside the table. Maddie was behind Lily, looking just as messy as them but in her Ravenclaw robes.

The three girls got on the ground and sat there, cleaning themselves off while the boys started to do battle with the Slytherins. James and Sirius were perhaps the most rowdy of the bunch, standing on the table and shooting hexes across the room at the Slytherins. Remus and Peter were both somewhat calm, deciding to shield and clean themselves instead of fighting back.

"We should try to stop them," Maddie said loudly over all the noise. It was basically an all out battle between the Slytherins and Gryffindors, with Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs caught in the crossfire. Food was everywhere, and the hexes from Gryffindor were equally retaliated with from the Slytherins.

"James, Sirius!" Lily shouted to the boys. They looked back to her for a moment before returning to battle angrily. "Oh, whatever, they can get all the detentions in the world for all I care," Lily grumbled after they ignored her.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Dumbledore's booming voice echoed through the Great Hall, pausing most of the fighting. The only violence that remained were a few third years shoving eachother off in a corner. "This will cease immediately before we take further actions and punish the whole school!" Dumbledore was angry, and for a moment, Hermione wondered if she had ever seen him so upset before, "This is silly fighting, and I will not tolerate it in my school. Now, all of you will stop this at once and your heads of houses will come around to sort out the punishments." A large portion of the crowd groaned in protest, but the fighting seemed to stop.

Sirius and James got off of the table and the Slytherins lowered their wands as well. Most of the exploded food was cleaned up as professors made their way across the room.

"You okay?" Sirius moved up to Hermione's side, helping her up.

"Sirius Black, what were you thinking?" Hermione scolded him loudly, "Do you realize how much trouble you're going to be in?"

He cracked a Marauder-ish smirk, "sorry, love, I just had to defend my honour."

She rolled her eyes, "I can't believe you just did that..."

He waved his wand over her bushy hair, cleaning it of most of the remaining debris and grinned again.

She just shook her head, a light smile tugging at he lips. It was turning out to be an interesting day...


	25. Greenhouse Three

**Chapter 25: Greenhouse Three**

After the havoc caused from the food fight in the Great Hall, a large number of Slytherins and Gryffindors were given detention for two weeks. The recipients of detentions did include Sirius and James, much to their dismay. The other boys had earned a lecture from McGonagall, but Remus and Peter got away without detention, since they weren't full out fighting the Slytherins.

The only good thing that seemed to come out of the incident in the Great Hall was that the whole pranking trend was over. The rival houses had learned their lessons the hard way. It wasn't total peace; there were still angry glares exhanged in the hallways and the occasional teasing, but it was still more peaceful than before.

On one particular afternoon, Hermione found herself relaxing in the courtyard with Lily, Maddie, and Remus, enjoying the Spring weather. James and Sirius were in detention that afternoon, and therefore nowhere to be seen. Hermione was still enjoying herself, however. Spring had sprung in full force, bringing warm weather and a peaceful atmosphere.

"At least James and Sirius aren't banned from quidditch," Lily mused while the group considered the punishments.

"Yeah, though I doubt McGonagall would ever do that, she knows that we need them for the house cup," Remus commented.

Maddie chuckled, "It's funny how much you all talk about Quidditch. I've never cared for it much."

"Me neither," Hermione muttered, "I mean, I tolerate it, but flying was never my thing, and it doesn't seem all that interesting."

"Yeah, James and Sirius are the reason I follow it, if it weren't for them I'd probably skip most games." Remus commented.

"I enjoy it," Lily grinned, looking around the group.

"That's just because you like to watch James play," Hermione teased.

"Exactly," Lily grinned slyly.

The group broke off into laughter for a moment, and to Hermione's surprise, she seemed to hear someone laughing behind her...

She turned to find both James and Sirius, stuggling to keep an invisibility cloak on them as they entered the courtyard. James shoved Sirius, who's face became exposed. He looked at Hermione and grinned.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hermione asked, shocked and confused, "Aren't you supposed to be in detention?"

"We snuck out," Sirius shrugged nonchalantly. They both approached the group and James removed the invisibility cloak.

"How did you sneak out of detention?" Remus asked incredulously.

"You're both going to be in so much trouble!" Lily exclaimed.

"Calm down, we won't get caught." James said, "We only left because Slughorn fell asleep, he won't even notice we're gone."

"He'll wake up eventually," Maddie said doubtfully,

"I'm sure we'll get back there in time," Sirius muttered

After that, both boys sat down with the group in the courtyard, enjoying the nice weather. Hermione still couldn't believe they had done that, and repeatedly told Sirius how bad this would turn out. He just told her not to worry, that he never got caught.

"So when do you two plan on returning to detention?" Lily asked after a couple of moments.

James shrugged, "Eventually."

"We've still got a while, Slughorn's naps take a long time, and-" Sirius abruptly stopped and turned his head towards the entrance to the courtyard. "Shit!" He hissed.

Hermione looked to see Slughorn, wobbling into the courtyard, eyes searching the groups of students.

"Run!" James whispered, grabbing Lily and pulling her away to an alternate exit.

"Come on!" Sirius said to the others, grabbing Hermione's hand as well.

"I don't need to run away, I'm not in any trouble!" Hermione protested, but still continued to move behind Sirius as they entered a long corridor. She looked back into the courtyard to find that they had left Remus and Maddie behind. However, the couple didn't seem to mind very much, they would probably rather relax than run away from a professor.

"Just come on," Sirius practically begged as they moved through the corridor quickly behind James and Lily, the latter of which was protesting almost as much as Hermione.

After turning a corner at the end of the hallway, the group stopped while Sirius peered back down the corridor, "He's coming!" Sirius whispered frantically.

Merlin, there was no turning back for Hermione and Lily now.

The group continued running through the schools corridors, which were relatively empty except for a few small groups.

"Watch this," Sirius murmured to Hermione, who was running beside him. With a lazy flick of his wand in James' direction, the boy seemed to trip over his own feet and fall to the ground.

"Sirus!" Hermione chided, but eventually laughed a bit along with Sirius.

"I'll get you for that!" James called after them angrily once they had passed him and Lily by.

"James, we need to get away from here!" Lily whispered, helping him up.

Within a moment, James and Lily were in full pursuit of Sirius and Hermione. They were actually haing a bit of fun with it as Sirius dodged James' hexes of retaliation. Soon, however, they were halted when all four of them realized where they were.

_Greenhouse Three._

Hermione read the sign before her and peered into the empty glass classroom with various plants and herbs.

"Let's go!" Sirius said excitedly, leading the group inside. They weren't running anymore, and Hermione took a moment to regain her breath before following behind James and Lily.

"We're going to get into so much trouble..." Lily muttered quietly, staring into a large fern that sat before her.

Hermione breifly considered why she wasn't freaking out and forcing all of them out of the Greenhouse. For a moment she thought that maybe her morals had declined so much that she no longer cared about getting in trouble. But that wasn't really true. She decided on the fact that maybe through all her time spent with the marauders and Sirius, she had become a more carefree person. Of course, over the years, Hermione had always been evolving to be less strict and prudish person in general. Maybe her time here had just magnified that part of her personality.

As Hermione watched her close friends wander around the brightly lit greenhouse, she realized something very important: she was the happiest she had ever been at this moment. With these people, with a love like Sirius, without the worries of war and death, Hermione had found her happiness. She felt like she belonged here, with people she loved, people who made her happy. A big smile spread across her face as Sirius approached her.

"I love you," he murmured into her ear as he hugged her.

"I love you too," she whispered back. He quickly picked her up for a moment, while she let out a little squeak of surprise. They were both chuckling as he let her back down to the ground, keeping her hand in his.

"We should get out of here," James said uneasily, "That vine over there is starting to creep me out..."

The group left after only a moment, returning to the corridor and finding it empty.

"You guys really need to get back to detention," Hermione said, realizing that they would probably be getting into a ton of trouble.

"Yeah," Sirius nodded, "Ready then, Prongsy?"

"Lets go, Pads," James affirmed, pulling the invisibility cloak out and draping it around the two of them.

Hermione and Lily laughed as they wached the boys stumble down the hallway. They were far too big to be able to both fit under one invisibility cloak, and that made for a funny sight with their visible ankles and occasionaly bickering.

The two girls walked back to the courtyard and found Remus and Maddie right where they had left them. "Did you all have fun, then?" Remus questioned.

"Oh yes, we had quite an adventure..." Lily muttered.


	26. The Fallout

**Chapter 26: The Fallout**

As time passed by spring quickly came over the students of Hogwarts. Before they knew it, everyone was looking forward to summer, and for the seventh years- graduation. Hermione, of course, was excited for the break, but she wasn't quite sure where it would leave her. How does a time traveler fit into her future when it's from the past? There was talk among the marauders of sticking together no matter what happened, and she knew that they would do so for at least a year or two, but she still had this strange apprehension about it all.

Sirius understood why she was nervous, and he would sometimes admit to his fear about the situation as well. There were many days when the two of them would be lounging around on the grounds and they would just look at eachother, trying to remember that moment, so they could never let it go. Sirius also had his questions that Hermione refused to answer. He tended to ask her unimportant details about the future; if the Gryffindor Quidditch team was doing well, or if the Minister for Magic stayed in office very long. Hermione would always refuse to answer, except sometimes when she could be ambiguous about it. All in all, things were okay. Hermione was happy with her life, even if she worried occasionally.

But her anxiety did eventually grow, and she began to comprehend that her stay in the past might have been coming to an end.

The semi-large group of Gryffindors (and Maddie) sat around a table in the library one day. They were studying for NEWTs, which were only in a few weeks. It seemed like the whole school was stressed out, even though the Seventh years were the only ones having to deal with a test of this magnitude. Hermione, Sirius, Remus, Maddie, and Lily had all congregated in the library, with several textbooks and stacks of parchment between them. Sirius had been reluctant to come on this wednesday afternoon, but Hermione had convinced him to attend their little study session.

"You think we'll need to know the hiccuping potion?" Remus asked Hermione, looking through his potions notes.

"Probably, Slughorn has mentioned it a few times over the week," Hermione remembered the professor rambling on, dropping subtle hints about what would be on the exam. At least he wasn't like Snape, who would never resort to helping them prepare for a test.

Sirius groaned, "There is just too much material to memorize."

"Well keep working, these tests basically determine your whole life," Lily muttered, obviously irritated. It seemed like NEWT preparation had taken quite a toll on the witch; her red hair was messily tied back, and she had ink-stained fingers that strangely resembled how Hermione's often were.

"They don't determine your whole life, they just influence things," Remus said, eyes never leaving the Advanced Potions text in front of him.

"Yeah, and the professors make the NEWTs out to matter more than they actually do," Maddie reasoned.

Hermione listened to her friends with a quaint smile while simultaneously organizing a stack of DADA notes. She liked studying, oddly enough. It just comforted her, as it always had.

"Do you think your NEWT scores will matter?" Sirius asked in a whisper, leaning to Hermione, who sat beside him.

Hermione shrugged, "I'm going to study for them anyways."

Sirius accepted the answer and the whole group fell into silence for a while, the only sounds were scribbling quills and shifting papers. After another hour, however, most of the group had left. Sirius ran off to Quidditch practice while Lily grew bored and went to watch the practice. Hermione, Remus, and Maddie were left, until Hermione had decided it was time to retire as well.

She packed up her bags and said goodbye, ready for a nice hot shower before getting some much needed sleep. The corridor leading back to the Gryffindor tower was empty and silent, the only sound being Hermione's footsteps. She began to feel strange, and eerie as she moved across the hall. It was like the feeling you got when you accidentaly brushed past a ghost. Hermione remembered one time when she had practically walked through Nearly-Headless Nick in the Great Hall. She began to feel chilly, and her stomach dropped a little.

But this feeling definitely wasn't coming from a ghost. The young witch looked down at her hand and gasped aloud. Her normally pale skin was losing color, growing transparent. She was fading.

"No," Hermione mumured, "no, no, no," she repeated the mantra several more times, examining her arms as they slowly faded away. Her breaths came out in short gasps as she began to realize what this meant. It had happened before, and Hermione could guess that the same thing was happening.

After a couple minutes, the fading stopped. Her hands grew more and more opaque, and that strange feeling left her. But it didn't help with the panic she was experiencing. She quickly made her way down the corridor and into the Gryffindor Common room. Once inside, she hastily scoped the place out, finding it relatively empty. Making sure not to attract any attention, she made her way up to the girl's dormitories calmly. Once she was safely inside, she closed the door behind her and made her way over to the bed.

This really couldn't be happening. Not now, when things were just starting to really look up. Sirius and her were in love, and she had only just told him her biggest secret. She couldn't abandon him, or any of the others for that matter. They had a war to fight, and she couldn't stand the idea of leaving them to face it alone. But there wasn't really any other option. She couldn't change the future, that could result in something disasterous.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Hermione had known that this was coming. Summer was quickly approaching, and she knew that she wasn't supposed to just continue on being a part of the marauders lives. She couldn't change what would happen. She couldn't stop Peter from joining Voldemort, she couldn't stop James and Lily from being murdured, she couldn't save Sirius from Azkaban, and she couldn't stop the war from happening. It was inevitable.

So Hermione made a deal with herself. She wouldn't influence anything; nothing could change. But she would make sure to stay here as long as she could manage, even if she had no control over her time travel. She would be prepared, and would say her goodbyes to everyone. She would make sure Sirius knew how much she loved him and how sorry she was for abandoning all of them. She could only hope that he would understand. She didn't want to break his heart, but at this point, it seemed inevitable.


	27. Bulletproof Weeks

**Chapter 27: Bulletproof Weeks**

As Hermione expected, there was another fading soon after her first. It came while Hermione was watching a Quidditch practice. She had simultaneously been editing and finishing up a potions essay, sitting in the stands of the Quidditch pitch.

"COME ON, PADFOOT, YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!" James' booming voice yelled out, taunting Sirius from the field.

Hermione wasn't paying much attention to them, she had never really understood what Quidditch practice consisted of; all she knew was that there was an ample amount of competitiveness among them. She looked up from her essay to see the Chaser swooping by, quickly headed towards the other end of the field. She spotted Sirius, swinging his bat around while he taunted James in response.

In that moment, Hermione really got a chance to admire him, and she understood why Lily had frequently gone to Quidditch practices in the past to see James. He looked straight up sexy in his Quidditch uniform, and that was never something Hermione would expect to admit to herself. But then again, Sirius looked good in everything. His hair was pushed back in the perfectly rugged way, and when he suddenly caught Hermione's eye, his flirtatious grin made her melt. He was just amazing. She sighed in contentment before returning to her essay.

Halfway through her last paragraph, she started to notice a little queazy feeling in her stomach. For years she had learned to ignore things like that, but lately, she had been on high guard for it. Her mind immediately raced to wondering if she was going to fade away again. A slight panic set in when she noticed her hand slowly start to go pale and begin to fade.

She didn't know if this would be the last time she saw Sirius Black, but it didn't seem that way. The world around her faded away for a moment before returning to normal. She shivered and hugged her abdomen with her arms, knowing that this was just a confirmation of what was to come. But she couldn't just leave. How could she abandon her friends here so unceremoniously? How could she simply allow herself to fade away? As she watched Sirius fly around the Quidditch Pitch, carefree as ever, she decided that she needed to tell him, even if it did ruin what they had.

* * *

The next day, Hermione did as she had promised herself to do. She approached Sirius after dinner in the common room and asked him to talk.

Sirius' face suddenly was overcome with horror, "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No," Hermione said quickly, "I could never... But I really need to talk to you about something. Can we go somewhere?" She motioned to the always-busy common room around them.

He nodded and took her hand, leading her out the portrait hole. Once outside, they began walking, and Hermione realized that these walks were sort of their thing. They always went for walks and she quite enjoyed it.

"Lets sit here," Hermione pointed to a nearby bench. Sirius, with his hand still holding hers, sat down.

"Is something wrong?" He asked, concern lacing his voice.

Hermione wanted to tell him that no, nothing was wrong and everything was absolutely perfect, but that wasn't at all true, "Yeah, something's wrong."

He swallowed and nodded, urging her on.

After a moment of considering the best way to go about saying it, Hermione finally decided to just come right out and tell him. "I think I'm leaving...going back to my time, you know, the future."

He swallowed and searched her face for a moment. He looked heartbroken as he responded, "What? Why?"

"Well, when I came here, there was this thing that happened to me where I started to sort of fade away. It happened several times before I actually left. It's started happening again now."

He furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of it. "How many times has this happened?"

"Twice."

"How long do you think you'll have here?"

"Well, judging by the fact that they were almost two weeks apart, I'd say that I've still got another couple of weeks."

She was surprised that he didn't seem angry, she had partly expected that. Instead he just grabbed both of her hands in his and took a deep breath. "There must be a way we can fix this, right?" He asked desperately.

"I don't think so," she exhaled, "back in the beginning of the year, I did some research on it, but there wasn't much information. I found some stuff explaining how accidental time travel can happen to people who have done it before, but there wasn't any details about how to prevent it. I think it's inevitable."

Sirius picked up one of her hands and examined it closely, drawing small circles on her palm with his forefinger. "I love you," he murmured, bringing his hand to his lips before looking back into her eyes.

Hermione was tearing up now, wondering how many days she had left with Sirius. She leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him into a tight hug. "I love you too," her whisper came out quietly while she rested her chin on his shoulder.

After a long silence, Sirius pulled away to look at her again. "Even if you leave... I'll still see you again, right? I mean, in the future."

Hermione bit her lip momentarily before responding. "Yeah... Eventually."

He smiled, "I'll be okay."

She wanted to tell him not to be so naïve, that there was a war on it's way, and he would definitely not be okay. But she could always prepare him for that later.

"Can we go back to the common room?" She asked, shivering from the cold.

"Yeah," Sirius put an arm aroud Hermione and together, they walked back to the Gyffindor tower.

Hermione wondered how Sirius would fare after she was gone. Would he find someone else? Would he forget about her? She doubted that he would completely forget, and she accepted the fact that maybe he moved on to be with someone else. Never the less, she worried what would happen to him. Would he be as heartbroken as she surely would feel?

The whole other side of the situation was how Hermione's life would be after she left. Would she ever move on? She couldn't imagine life without him and the other marauders. But then again, a part of her was homesick, and wanted to be with her family and friends. It had been so long since she had seen Harry and Ron. She could only vaguely remember the freckles across Ron's face, but on the other hand, she could clearly remember Harry because he was basically a carbon copy of James with a little of Lily mixed in there.

It was still scary, just thinking about leaving this place. It had grown to become her safe heaven of sorts, and she knew she would miss it dearly, along with Sirius.


	28. Preparations

**Chapter 28: Preparations**

Hermione nervously chewed her bottom lip as she approached the transfiguration classroom. She tried to think over all the possible outcomes of what she was about to do in her head. In reality, it wasn't that big of a deal, but Hermione valued Professor McGonagall's opinon so much, and she didn't want to upset her.

She made her final decision on how to go about saying this: calmly and without too many details. She would absolutely _not_ start crying. The door to the empty classroom was open and Hermione quietly entered. At the end of the room, the door to Minerva McGonagall's office was closed. The bushy haired witch breifly wondered if maybe she was asleep and didn't want to talk to anyone, but then she reminded herself that it was only 6:45.

She knocked on the door quietly, and waited. Hermione could hear a faint, "come in," before she turned the doornob and cracked open the door. She saw the woman finishing up some hasty writing on her desk before she looked up. "Hermione," she seemd slightly surprised, probably having assumed that it was a student asking for help on a transfiguration essay or something, becuase Hermione rarely needed help on anything.

"Hello, Professor," She forced a smile, "I wanted to speak wih you about something"

McGonagall looked at her for a moment before telling her to take a seat. Hermione sat down in the chair across a large desk covered in many organized stacks of paper.

"Is something wrong?" The woman asked, seeing Hermione's fragile expression.

Hermione waited a moment before responding, "Sort of," she noted the confused look her professor was giving her, "I really just want to notify you of something thats going to happen. I was originally going to tell Professor Dumbledore, but he seemed busy, and frankly, I'd like you to know this."

"And what is 'this'?"

"Well, I'm probably going to be leaving soon... Going back to where I belong." She chewed her lip, hoping the woman understood her ambiguous answer so she would not have to say it again.

McGonagall watched the nervous girl for a second, "and is this a choice you have made?"

"No." Hermione answered the question before she had time to even think about it, "There are these... Signs that make me think that I won't be staying here much longer."

"Can you stop this from happening?"

"There is no way I know of," Hermione murmured.

McGongall seemed to pick up on the sensitivity of the subject, "If this does turn out the way you expect it to, know that you will be missed."

Hermione gave her a watery smile, "Thank you, professor."

McGonagall looked at the bushy haired witch fondly, "When I began to see you making friends with certain people at this school, I thought it a strange decision, but I now know that they are the best friends you could have possibly made."

Hermione knew that somewhere in that comment, she was thinking about Hermione's relationship with Sirius. "Thank you," her voice cracked a little.

"I hate to kick you out, dear, but I've got a couple fifth years coming in for detention." The woman said, checking the time.

Hermione nodded, "Thank you, professor." She stood up and headed for the doorway.

"Good luck, Hermione," was the last thing she heard from the woman.

As Hermione left the office of one of her favorite professors, she briefly considered going back and telling her that they would meet again in several years. She really wanted to say that, and make it easier on the woman, but she couldn't say anything more, she had already told Sirius enough, she didn't want to go back home to some alternate universe or something after messing with time.

* * *

Hermione hummed to herself as she entered the crowded library of Hogwarts, looking for a quiet place to sit. It was full of students, doing their last minute cramming for the final exams coming up. After a few laps around the winding bookshelves, hermione found an empty corner to sit. She placed her bag over the side of the chair and withdrew a piece of parchment along with her favorite quill.

She stared at the blank parchment for a solid ten minutes before her quill even touched ink. She tried to figure out how to go about doing this. What was one supposed to say in a situation like this? There hadn't been much in the way of time-travel in all those muggle romance movies she had seen.

Finally, she began to write.

_Dear Sirius,_

_I'm really so sorry about all of this. Really. I would do anything to stay here with you if I just knew how. But there's something telling me that I can't stay here; I belong in a different time, even if I would rather be here with you. Anyways, I'm writing this letter so you have something after I'm gone, and so you know how much I love you. Because I do love you. Immensely. I love you more than I ever thought possible. I'll miss you so much. I don't think I could ever go a day without thinking about you. And the others, of course. You Marauders are unforgettable._

_I'm really sorry about everything that will happen to you in the future. Things will get bad, Sirius. I hate to leave you at a time like this, but I'm afraid I have no choice. People will get hurt, you'll make both friends and enemies, and it won't be easy. Please just understand that I can't tell you what's going to happen. I know that you'll be angry with me when you realize that I could have prevented certain events from happening, but I can't change the past. Things turn out okay, Sirius, and even when you feel hopeless, remember what you're fighting for._

_I don't have much time to write individual letters to everyone, so I hope you'll pass the following along to them:_

_Tell James and Lily to enjoy what they have. They're wonderful people and deserve all the happiness in the world. They're also some of the bravest people I've ever met._

_Tell Remus that for the record, he will never be a monster to me. And that he will always have friends, even when he feels alone and hopeless._

_Tell Peter that I hope he finds what he's looking for in the future. I at least hope that it's worth it to him._

_I should probably wrap this up soon. So let me tell you once more that I love you. More than anything. I've had so much happiness with you and I'll never forget it. It's been quite a ride, Sirius Black. I'll miss you. And don't worry about me, I'll be okay._

_Love, Hermione Jean Granger_

_P.S. You'll be a wonderful Godfather, even if some people think you're a bit reckless._

Hermione looked over the letter several times before she decided that it was good. She folded it up and gently placed it into a small envelope before packing her stuff up and leaving the library.


	29. It Comes and Goes

**Chapter 29: It Comes and Goes**

As surprising as it was to Hermione, she made it all the way to NEWTs, not fading at all. Every day she cherished as her last with Sirius and the others, but every day passed by normally. Of course, Hermione didn't expect the fadings to just stop, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. She was still cautious, of course. Every day she carried around her letter to Sirius, prepared to give it to him whenever she needed to. But it didn't seem like she _did_ need to. Soon enough, it was time for her first NEWT, potions.

Hermione and Remus went to the potions NEWT together, after waking up early that morning to study. Hermione was nervous, as always before tests. She even knew that she shouldn't have to be nervous, as Sirius had repeatedly stressed to her.

_"Hermione, love, you can just blow off all your NEWTs if you want to," Sirius said nonchalantly, "I mean, your scores won't even matter, right?" There was a little hint of sadness in his voice. He expected her to leave, and it broke her heart._

The NEWT was grueling, but it wasn't much harder than some of Snape's tough exams. Remus seemed to have a little trouble with the Polyjuice potion section, but other than that, she was sure that he had done fine as well. They finished, and the whole room seemed to exhale with relief. Students filed out and Hermione grinned at Remus when she found him among the large group of people

"Wasn't so bad, right?" Remus asked with a surpisingly relieved smile. Potions had always been a tougher subject for him that year, Hermione had learned that through having the class with him. But never the less, Hermione and Remus were both some of the most intelligent students in their year, and their study sessions- which were held relatively often- had made sure that they could ace the class.

Hermione nodded her agreement to his question. She could feel the rush of adrenaline from working so hard on her test. And they still had several more to go! That was only the first test on the morning of the first day, after all.

"I'm gonna go find Maddie," Remus said happily, "I promised to meet her after lunch."

"You two have fun," she grinned, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" she called after him.

Remus shook his head, chuckling under his breath as he walked away.

Hermione slowed down, taking the hallway at a leisurely pace as a realization came to her. She had just made a _joke_, no, she had made a _suggestive_ comment. She tried to think back to the last time she had ever purposefully dared to utter an innuendo of any sort. Okay, maybe she had done it a couple times recently, but honestly, never before she had been here with the Mararuders.

It was one of those moments when everything suddenly clicked in her mind. She realized that the marauders (and especially Sirius) had _changed_ her. The more she thought about it, the more connections she had made. Her time spent here in the past had forced her to adapt and bond with these people who seemed to have rubbed off on her quite a bit. She had loosened up and let go of her normally strict demeanour. Of course, over the years, she had always been losing her anxious and no-rule-breaking tendencies, but now, she was _different_. She make suggestive comments, merlin, she was turning into Sirius.

Hermione supposed it was a good thing. As a child she had always been uptight. She smiled absently while strolling down the hall.

Suddenly, it was happening all over again.

Hermione felt it come on so much faster this time. Her stomach turned and she immediately looked down to see a ghostly hand where her slightly freckled, inkstained one used to be. Hermione let out a strangled gasp as her whole arm began to disappear. Was it happening now? Had she even said goodbye to Sirius that morning? This couldn't be happening. _No,_ this wasn't the last time. It couldn't be.

She had been focusing on her hand for so long that she didn't even notice when the floor beneath her changed from dark stone to old oak flooring. A sob escaped her when she looked up to see a kitchen, and it was a kitchen that she definitely didn't want to see right now. She felt a pang in her heart as she noticed the dishes washing themselves, a trick Mrs. Weasley had once demonstrated for Hermione. She looked to a nearby wall, where a curious clock hung. She saw each hand with a name enscribed on it, pointing in different directions.

_Ron, Charlie, Molly, Arthur, George-_

Hermione couldn't continue reading because the clock began to fade away. She could hear her heartbeat pounding in her chest as the Burrow disappeared and the hallways of Hogwarts took it's place. Slowly, the walls around her became solid, as did her hands and arms.

There was too much running through her head. She needed to _get out_. Hermione felt her legs carry her at a rapid pace to the nearest bathroom. She entered the empty girls bathroom at a run, immediately opening the door to the first stall. She hadn't recognized that she felt sick before she coughed and vomited up that mornings breakfast into the toilet. Hermione continued dry-heaving for several moments afterwards, feeling tears running down her cheeks as she did so.

After a while, the young witch stood up and moved out of the stall, removing her wand so she could place a locking charm on the door. She breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the cold stone wall, falling to the ground.

Hermione covered her mouth with her hand, trying to stop the sobs that were aching to be let out. Eventually, she gave in and let herself cry. Tears ran down her face as she hugged her knees to her chest, hoping beyond hope that she could stay here. She just _needed_ to stay here.

She couldn't lose Sirius. It struck her in that moment that _she couldn't live without him_. He was everything to her. He had become her life. God, how had she let herself get so hung up on a boy? But this wasn't just a boy. This was Sirius Black. She let herself smile a little as she remembered his fierce eyes and easy smile. Would she forget what he looked like when she left? Forget his smile? His eyes? The way he felt?

It hurt, and she hadn't even lost him yet. She was still here...

But she would soon be gone.

After the tears came to a slow stop, Hermione picked herself up off the floor, making her way to the sink slowly. She looked in the mirror and took in her bloodshot eyes and wrinkled robes. She was a mess. Slowly, she fixed herself up, remembering that she had another NEWT that afternoon, and Hermione Granger would _never_ miss a NEWT.


	30. In Waves

**Chapter 30: In Waves**

The boys were letting out shouts of excitement as they all quickly made their way back to the common room. "Prongs, where's you stash the firewhiskey?" Sirius asked in a hushed tone, holding onto Hermione's hand as they swiftly moved down the hallway along with the rest of the group.

"I've got it in my trunk," James responded, a grin plastered to his face. He looked a lot like Harry had after winning a Quidditch match; his hair was ruffled and his eyes were bright with joy.

"I can't believe we're done," Lily beamed, "We're adults... Leaving Hogwarts... Going into the real world." Hermione noticed the nervousness seem to set into Lily's face, but James quickly squeezed her into a hug. Her worry disappeared.

"Let's just make sure none of the Professors find out about such a big party," Remus murmured while walking swiftly beside Peter.

James waved him off, assuring them all that _Marauder_ parties were never discovered by Professors.

As the portrait stationed at the entrance to the Common Room came into view, Hermione saw Sirius watching her out of the corner of his eye. "Alright there, love?" He mumbled the question under his breath.

Hermione nodded and forced a smile. She still hadn't told him about her fading the other day... Or the breakdown in the girls bathroom that came after...

A moment later, they all stood in the common room while James and Peter raced upstairs to get the Firewhiskey. A few of the seventh year Gryffindors had already gathered around, exhanging happy words of congratulations and excitement. Hermione was happy of course, NEWTs were over, and a lot of stress was relieved, but every since that day when she faded after the potions exam, she had been on edge.

Several students let out shouts of excitement when the firewhiskey was delivered. She had to admit, it was going to be quite a night.

Then the party really began. Hermione stayed close to Sirius for the next several minutes, watching as he consumed large amounts of alcohol. However, the firewhiskey didn't seem to be affecting him very muc, he simply claimed that he was "pleasantly buzzed". Hermione, on the other hand, didn't drink much at all. She _might_ have had a couple sips, but definitely didn't want to end up like James, who was already adequately bombed.

"I'm going to sit down," Hermione whispered to Sirius, squeezing his hand once when he nodded to her.

She moved over to one of the couches, where she saw Lily seated. "Hermione!" Lily said excitedly upon seeing her friend.

"Hey, Lily," Hermione sat beside her, taking in the girl's appearance, "you look drunk."

Lily considered the question for a moment before answering, "maybe a little..." Hermione laughed while Lily broke into a fit of giggles. "I'm going to find James," Lily mumbled, hopping up and disappearing into the crowd.

Hermione sat for a while, watching the group of Gryffindors. She had never liked parties all that much, but she had to admit, just watching them was rather interesting.

In a matter of seconds, everything changed.

Hermione let out a small gasp as she felt her stomach do a strange little flip. It took a moment for it to dawn on her what was happening.

It was so different this time... So much more intense... Just like the time she had come here. She knew this would be the last time. It just felt so _real_.

Hermione jumped up from her seat and bolted into the crowd of students, frantically searching for Sirius. She finally found him, standing beside Remus, talking.

"Sirius," Hermione practically shouted, "I need to talk to you." She grabbed his arm and began pulling at him.

Sirius seemed to sober up completely when he got a glimpse of her. "Hermione, what's wong?" He looked to Remus at his right, and then back to her, "why are you crying?"

Hermione hadn't even realized she'd been crying. "I really need to talk to you," she said sternly, her voice breaking. Sirius noticed her urgency and followed her outside.

Hermione looked at her hand. It wasn't fading yet, but it seemed to be growing a little pale.

"What's going on?" Sirius asked, grabbing Hermione's hand in his.

Hermione looked at him, wiping tears from her cheeks. "I think- _god_, Sirius, -I think I'm leaving. It's happening," her voice sounded slightly hysteric now, "I-I'm really sorry, and I love you so much."

Sirius' face was progressively becoming more alarmed as she continued talking. "Are you sure? Like, this is it?" He looked horrified when Hermione nodded tearily.

"I'm sorry," she said hoarsely. Sirius shook his head and pulled her to him. She let out a shaky breath before he kissed her. It was a desperate sort of kiss, a last kiss, the kind that you never forget. Hermione and Sirius were both well aware of the fact that this was a last kiss. Hermione kissed Sirius with all the love she had for him, all the love she couldn't put into words.

When she pulled away, there was so much pain swimming through his eyes. "I'll see you soon," Sirius began, "...right?"

Hermione nodded, clenching her lips together in an effort to hold back a sob. She brought a gentle hand to the side of his face, playing with his long black hair. "I'll see you soon."

The worst part was that she wouldn't see him. Never again. At least _he_ had something to look forward to, but she was going to a time when Sirius Black was _dead_. And she didn't even have the strength to tell him that. Here, he was probably thinking that they would end up together, and that he just had to wait a couple years for her. But the sick truth was that Sirius would spend the next several years waiting for her, and then when he finally found her, she would be a thirteen year old girl, and his godson's best friend. He would never _be_ with her again. He would die before she ever knew how crucial of a role she played in his life.

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted when she noticed her hand going away, fading slowly. She realized that time was running out, and she remembered the letter. "Sirius, I've got a letter for you," she mumbled hastily, pulling a small envelope out of her robes. "Here," she handed it to him, and he took it cautiously.

He looked confused, "Why..."

"Just read it later," she responded brokenly.

He was fading away now, she was having trouble seeing the dark tint of his eyes. She was leaving- and -_oh god_- she wasn't ready for this. Sirius seemed to notice that she was fading away. He pulled her into a large embrace, and she felt so relieved that she could still feel his arms. After a moment, he pulled back and pressed a tender kiss on her forehead.

"I love you, Hermione."

He said the words so soundly. Like they were the only thing in the world he was certain of.

Hermione nodded, chocking back tears, "I love you too, Sirius."

And then she was gone.

* * *

Harry solemly picked at his food, not looking up at the other people sitting around him. He didn't want to see at any of them right now. He didn't want to look beside him and not see Hermione's face there.

It had been months since she had disappeared. The last time he had seen here, she was sitting at this exact same table, at a normal Weasley family dinner. They had been preparing to return to school, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny, all going back for their seventh year. It all just happened so suddenly, they were just chatting normally, eating dinner, enjoying the company.

And then she was gone.

Nobody knew where she went. It became the biggest mystery Harry had ever known. There was nothing signalling her disappearance, and nothing signalling that she would be coming back. Some people even assumed that she was dead, But Harry couldn't think that way. Almost every day, he thought about her, hoping beyond hope that she would come back to them.

Ron was worse off than Harry. Even before Hermione had disappeared, he had felt terrible for breaking off their relationship. For the first couple of months after she was gone, Harry often found Ron, lost in thought as he sat in some isolated part of the house, murmuring something about Hermione, and how sorry he was.

To be honest, everyone had been in a pretty bad state since Hermione's disappearance. This was their first dinner since she had disappeared, that's why the memories were coming back so strongly for Harry.

Nobody spoke as food was passed around and forks clattered against the shabby china. Harry eventually retreated into his mind enough that he was just looking off into the distance above Ron's head, across the table. He tried to remember their happiest memories together. It was a memorial of sorts, but Harry wouldn't admit that to himself. He could see her face grinning as she recieved a graded essay, or her angry yet determined glare when she spoke of SPEW.

Suddenly, her face was growing clear, more realistic. Harry furrowed his brow as he looked toward the space behind Ron. It was almost as if she was standing there, across the room, looking at her surroundings with tears in her eyes. Harry's eyes grew wide when he heard her speak.

"_Sirius_?"

Her broken voice came out in a hoarse whisper, with a pained expression on her face. Harry didn't really contemplate what she said, he was so focused on the way she was looking at everyone around the table. Finally, Ginny's voice made an appearance, telling Harry that he wasn't just imagining this.

"Hermione, is that you?"


	31. Sirius' Epilogue

**Sirius' Epilogue**

There was something about the way she looked at him on the last night, when she faded away.

It haunted him for years.

He had always thought that they might be together when she returned to her own time. He thought things would be that simple. Even if time made him old while she stayed young.

But there was something about the look she had given him on that last night. Her eyes were filled with tears, the corners of her mouth were turned down in a sad half-frown. It was as if it broke her heart to look at him, because she knew that she was breaking his.

She broke his heart.

But it wasn't like he was mad at her for it. She returned to her own time against her will, and she had told him many times how sorry she was. He knew that she felt terrible about it all.

After she disappeared, it took Sirius a long time before he was able to step back into the common room. When he did so, Remus was immediately on him, asking what had happened.

Sirius looked at his friend with eyes filled of deep pain, and said the words he didn't ever want to say.

"She's gone."

There was a long moment of silence, when Sirius and Remus just watched each other. Sirius knew that his friend understood in some way, even if he didn't know the whole story, he still understood.

"What?" Remus' face muddled up in confusion, "What are you talking about? Hermione's gone?"

Sirius could feel the anger shown in his expression. He just looked at Remus for several moments, not trusting himself to explain further. Remus didn't say anything either, he just kept looking around the room then back to Sirius. Soon, James was strutting over to them, looking drunk as ever.

"Was' going on?" he slurred.

Sirius clenched his jaw, glaring at nothing in particular before he stormed off, up to his dormitory.

He didn't think any of them would bother him, they knew not to. It wasn't until he arrived upstairs that he remembered the letter clasped in his hand. He opened it gingerly, and read it thoroughly several times. Her handwriting was the way it had always been; neat with delicate curves around her letters. He smiled at the way he could almost hear her voice as she wrote it. He examined every inch of the parchment, wanting to see something- some sign or encoded message- that would tell him that none of this was true. Finally, he gave up and read it a couple more times, just soaking it in.

After completely absorbing her letter, Sirius did feel a little better, but there was still an immeasurable dread that made his chest tight with every breath he took.

He fell asleep that night due to his exhaustion from the NEWTs, but the thought of her still haunted his dreams, like it would for many years in the future.

* * *

Sirius was never fully right after Hermione disappeared. He talked about it sometimes with the others, but would never fully explain what had happened to her. He told them she had to leave, and that they couldn't see each other anymore, but he never delved much deeper than that.

To be honest, he didn't really want them to know all of Hermione's secrets. He felt a deep connection knowing that she had decided to tell him rather than any of her other friends. He didn't want to share her, even though the others mourned her disappearance almost as much as he did.

Lily had cried when she found out the next morning. James and Remus kept asking questions, trying to make sense of it. Peter looked sad, but Sirius wasn't exactly sure what to make of him at that point.

It wasn't until a long time later that things finally got back to semi-normality. They left Hogwarts ready to venture into the world, still missing Hermione deeply every day. Sirius had to admit, the others helped him a lot. They all lived in a cramped flat together for a while, and it was quite often that Lily or Remus had to confiscate Sirius' Firewhiskey, but Sirius just wanted to _forget_.

Eventually, James and Sirius enrolled in their training to become Aurors, and that was when things began to look up. Sirius focused on work, and as the days went by, it started to hurt less and less.

There were, of course, those nights when he couldn't stop thinking about her face and her voice and the way she smelled and the way her hair bounced as she walked. Those nights were terrible, and usually caused a drinking binge of some sort.

It got easier when Harry was born. Sirius became a Godfather. His friends were happy, and even though Voldemort was on the rise and the Order was losing numbers, things were pretty good.

In the long run, things got better, little by little, Sirius moved on.

Then it happened.

It struck Sirius as outrageous at first, the fact that Pettigrew was a traitor. Then, it manifested itself as another agonizing blow to his battered and beaten heart. James and Lily were dead. Voldemort had killed them, and Harry was the sole survivor.

Sirius had been in such an enraged fit that he attacked Wormtail, and somehow, through it all, he wound up in Azkaban.

_Twelve years_ in Azkaban.

It was miserable, the worst twelve years of his life. A jail cell became his home, a place filled with miserable souls and Dementors around every corner.

And the worst part was that almost every moment was filled with thoughts of all the people he'd lost. Hermione was gone, somewhere in the future; James and Lily were dead, murdered by Voldemort; Peter was a traitor, the thought of it made Sirius' blood boil; Remus was probably convinced that Sirius had betrayed James and Lily, so that friendship was lost; and then Harry, who would never know his parents, and probably not his Godfather either.

Hermione was the one that kept him going most of the time. He just held onto the fact that she had promised that he would see her in the future. She had _promised_, and Hermione didn't go back on her promises. She would be his saviour. He just knew it. Someday, he would see her again, and it would make all of this worth it.

His thoughts became slightly less focused on Hermione when he saw that picture of the Weasleys in the Prophet. Pettigrew was there, and Sirius could finally get his revenge.

He escaped Azkaban and soon, everything was focused on finding that rat. Hermione didn't even occur to him until she was standing in front of him in the Shrieking Shack.

_Merlin_, it was her.

He had barely paid enough attention in the past couple of days to notice the girl hanging around with Harry and Weasley.

And she was thirteen.

When the realization hit him, dread filled his mind. Here he was, waiting for the girl he loved, only to find out that she was nearly two decades younger than him. He wondered if this was why she had given him that strange look on the night she faded away...

He stared at her for a moment, finding the older Hermione in her wild curls, her brown eyes, the way she spoke so stubbornly. Finally, Harry spoke again, and Sirius' attention was drawn away from her.

Of course she would end up as Harry's best friend.

Things happened, then Remus burst in. It was one of the strangest moments of his life. Initially, Remus was mad, very mad. But after it was revealed that Sirius had not given away James and Lily's secret, everything changed.

Sirius saw Remus' eyes flick to Hermione, and he realized that the man knew. Of course he would recognize her, he was her Professor. Remus' expression looked confused for a moment, and Sirius remembered that the man never knew that Hermione was a time traveler.

Soon, Snape came, and Sirius wondered if he recognized her as well, but if he did, he didn't show it. Then again, he probably would show it anymore after teaching her for three years, seeing her almost every day.

As they left the Shrieking Shack, Remus and Sirius had a murmured conversation.

"It's really her, then?" Remus asked under his breath.

Sirius nodded bitterly, "It seems so."

They walked in silence as Harry turned to look at Sirius, a smile on his face.

"When did you realize?" Sirius asked.

Remus thought it over for a moment, "I thought it was her when I first met her on the Hogwarts Express. Three days later I was almost positive."

Sirius kicked up the dirt on the ground angrily as he mulled this whole situation over. He saw her look back at him for a moment, but he didn't meet her eyes.

* * *

It was a long time before he really got to know her. It happened over the summer when she came to stay at Grimmauld. He watched her a lot, just noting the way she was growing up to be the girl he would someday love.

_Did_ he love her?

He considered this question one afternoon when they were all sitting in the drawing room. Sirius was beside Remus, they both faced the rest of the room, where most of the kids were hanging around. Ron and Harry were playing a game of chess, Ginny was flipping through a copy of _Witch Weekly_, and Hermione sat on the couch reading some dusty old book from the library.

Of course he loved her, but it wasn't in a romantic way anymore. He _couldn't_ love her in a romantic way, it was wrong. She was fifteen and he was in his thirties. He stil cared for her deeply, of course.

He watched as Fred and George came into the room and sat on either side of Hermione on the couch. She let out an exasperated sigh as they started asking her to help on some new product they were working on.

"Come on, Granger, you and your brainy head can surely figure this out," one of the twins said sweetly.

"As much as I appreciate the flattery, boys, no thanks," Hermione said, standing up from the couch and leaving the room, probably to go to the library.

Sirius sighed and looked to Remus. He could immediately tell that Remus had been watching him as he watched Hermione. He raised his brow in an explanatory way while Remus watched him. After a moment, they silently returned to what they had been doing before.

It was really rather miserable for Sirius at some points. He just couldn't get away from her sometimes. Of course, he should have expected that when he found out that she would be spending a large portion of the summer living at his house.

There was one day when he'd had his infamous conversation with Remus in the library. That was the day Hermione had come in while they were in the midst of talking about her. It made for a rather awkward situation.

Eventually, though, that summer passed, and most of the residents of Grimmauld went off to Hogwarts. He saw them all again over Hols, but not much other than that.

On the day he died he saw her again. They were in the Department of Mysteries, fighting a gang of Death Eaters because of some stupid misunderstanding. He was battling Bellatrix, and then suddenly, he was just falling away into the veil. Sirius knew that he was going to die.

He looked into her eyes for a fraction of a second, but she probably didn't register it as anything of significance. _He_ thought it was significant, of course.

It was his goodbye of sorts. A second goodbye for him, and a first goodbye for her.

As he faded away into the veil, she was one of the last people he thought about, along with Harry and Remus. They were the only ones he had left, and he was leaving them.

He wondered if she would be okay after everything happened, after the war was over and after she finished her time traveling.

_He wanted her to be okay._


	32. Hermione's Epilogue

**Hermione's Epilogue**

They lounged next to each other on the couch, Hermione's head on Ron's shoulder, and his arm around her. He kissed the top of her head as she played with the chain of her necklace. She sighed deeply, trying to wrap her head around everything that was happening.

They were getting married. In two weeks.

Hermione couldn't believe it. But then again, as a young girl, she always imagined that she would end up with Ron. He was her crush for several years when she was younger. He was the boy she would dream about. Of course, when they had finally expressed their feelings for each other, their actual relationship had begun, and ended very quickly after that. Then Hermione had gone back to the past, two decades earlier, and she had fallen in love with Sirius.

She could still vividly remember what had happened after she came back. It had been utter pandemonium; nobody had known what was going on or what had happened. On top of that, Hermione had a slight hysterical breakdown and it took her hours before she could even talk to anybody. Finally, after a calming draught and several deep breaths, Hermione gave a very long explanation clarifying the nature of her time travel. They seemed to partially understand what had happened. But they still had questions.

Hermione didn't want to tell them anything specific about where she had gone, and what had happened to her. She just couldn't put that on Harry, and they'd probably think she was crazy. She could remember them prying at her, trying to figure it out...

* * *

_Hermione sat on the couch in the Burrow, her heart still racing as her eyes flicked to the people around her. Ron sat to her right, studying her intently while Ginny sat to her left, watching Harry as he paced the floor in front of them. Mrs. Weasley had shooed everyone else so that just the four of them could talk. Hermione had just gulped down a calming draught, which seemed to help a lot, but she was still on edge._

_"I just don't understand," Harry muttered, "How does someone unintentionally perform time travel?"_

_Hermione sighed, "The best explanation I have is that it had something to do with my extended exposure to time travel back in our third year."_

_"Though you came back," Ginny said, "We're just happy that you're okay."_

_Hermione smiled, "You guys must have been worried sick."_

_The three of them all nodded simultaneously. For a moment there was silence, then Ron spoke up. "But... where did you go?"_

_Hermione felt her throat constrict a little. There was also a slight pang in her heart as she spoke, "You wouldn't believe it if I told you."_

_"Well it was in the past," Harry said, studying her, "How far back?"_

_"Look," Hermione began quietly, "It's really confusing, and in the beginning I wondered if it was all a crazy dream or something. I don't think I should tell you guys."_

_"Tell us, Hermione," Ginny said, taking her hand, "We won't think you're mad or anything."_

_Hermione shook her head, tears filling her eyes as she looked at Harry and saw James. "I can't," She murmured._

_In response, she felt Ron put an arm around her and move to speak quietly in her ear, "It will help if you talk about it, Hermione. We're here for you. You can tell us." She hadn't remembered the last time Ron had spoken so kindly to her, but that was the motivation she needed._

_Hermione took a shaky breath and fixed her eyes on the beaten up coffee table in front of her. "When I initially arrived, I quickly realized that I was at Hogwarts." She looked up and saw the confused expressions of her friends, "Th-then I found out that the year was 1977."_

_The room grew silent. Hermione continued, "After I realized that I wasn't coming back anytime soon, I talked to Dumbledore." She studied her hands intently, "I've spent the past nine months going to Hogwarts in 1977."_

_Harry had stopped moving. He just stood there, looking at her with an awestruck expression. Hermione spoke again after several silent moments, "Do you think I'm mad yet?"_

_This seemed to bring everyone out of their dazed state. Ginny shook her head, "No, we don't. It sort of makes sense, actually. If you've been missing from this time for about nine months. It fits."_

_She felt tremendous relief in the fact that Ginny believed it._

_Harry spoke next, and she knew what he was going to say before he even said it. "Wasn't that when my parents went to Hogwarts?"_

_Hermione nodded slowly. She looked to Ginny and Ron, seeing the questions and ideas in their bewildered expressions. When she found the strength to look up at Harry, his eyes were lit up brightly, painfully similar to Lily's eyes._

_"So... you knew my parents?" Harry asked cautiously._

_Ginny interrupted before Hermione had a chance to respond, "I'm sure Hermione avoided them, Harry. It's not like she would have become their best friend or something."_

_Harry was watching her avidly. "Well..." Hermione exhaled, feeling the tension rise again, "I _tried_ to avoid them, but it didn't really work out..."_

_"What happened?" Harry asked._

_Hermione was suddenly struck by the comedy of the situation. It was just so strange and unreal. She turned to address Harry with a slight smile, "I sort of... facilitated your parents relationship."_

_"What?" Ron asked, shocked._

_"Like, you got them together?" Ginny was just as shocked._

_"How?" Ron asked again._

_Hermione was still looking at Harry, "I wanted your mum to go out with your dad, and... she wanted me to go out w-with Sirius. So I told her that I would go on a date with Sirius if she went on a date with your dad." Hermione realized that she had just revealed what she intended to keep secret forever, but she trudged on through the discomfort. "After that, your parents just started dating."_

_"Wait," Ron mumbled, "You went on a date with Sirius?"_

_Hermione's face went beet red as she felt another pang in her chest. She was sure that they thought she was crazy. They were just too kind to point it out._

_Ron was still looking at her, slightly confused and slightly horrified._

_"Yeah," Hermione finally said in a very quiet voice._

_Harry didn't seem to care all that much about the idea of her going out with Sirius. "So you were friends with them?" He asked, his face seeming surprisingly happy._

_She nodded, "James, Lily, Sirius, Remus... and Peter."_

_"You could've changed it." Harry was ambiguous in his question, but she understood what he was talking about._

_"No, I didn't want to mess with time, and everything's okay now. If I had tried to change things in the past, who would've known what it could do to the future."_

_"She's right, Harry," Ginny spoke up, then turned to Hermione, "We're glad you're okay, and it's good to have you back."_

_Hermione felt her eyes tear up as she hugged Ginny. Harry still watched her with a slightly angry, and slightly awestruck expression. Ron was already watching Hermione as she turned to hug him. She had a feeling that she would be hearing a lot of questions about Sirius from now on..._

* * *

After that conversation, things had cleared up a little. Hermione probably slept for a two days straight while she tried to deal with all the changes in her life. At first, it was really hard to move forward, and she would often wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying about Sirius. She never explicitly told any of her friends how close she had really been to Sirius, but they seemed to know.

Eventually, Ron started playing a larger role in her life. One day, over lunch, Ginny told Hermione that Ron was still in love with her. At first, it felt wrong, but she soon began to realize that she needed to move on. Sirius was dead and he would have wanted her to be with someone who made her happy. Someone her own age, who wasn't prone to falling through magical veils and dying.

Ron would help Hermione when she couldn't help herself. He would talk her down when she had nightmares, and hold her hand when she felt lonely. He was no Sirius, but that quickly became insignificant when she realized that she could be happy again if she was with him. He knew that she had been deeply attached to Sirius, and he gave her space when she needed it.

Now, as they sat on the couch together, Hermione was happy again. They were officially engaged, and soon to be married. It had been two years since she had returned from 1977.

"I love you," Ron mumbled, taking her hand to examine the ring on her finger.

"I love you too," Hermione smiled quaintly.

They sat on the couch for a while, but their silence was suddenly interrupted when the fireplace burned green and Harry Flooed in. "Sorry to intrude," Harry said, excitement lacing his voice, "but I've got something I have to show you." He was smiling brightly, looking down at what appeared to be a picture in his hand.

Hermione sat up and made room for Harry on the couch beside her. He sat down and held the photo to his chest. "So you know how Ginny and I have been cleaning out Grimmauld Place?"

Hermione and Ron nodded.

"Well, we were looking through Sirius' old stuff, and I found this," he extended his hand to give Hermione the picture, "I thought you would like to have it."

She held the picture in her hands, a small, teary smile growing on her face as she looked at it. It was obviously taken in 1977 at Hogwarts, the people in it moved, indicating that it wasn't a normal muggle photo.

In the photo, Sirius was standing on the left, it was the young, beautiful Sirius that Hermione had loved. His arm was around Hermione. She gasped when she recognized her own face. She must have not noticed the picture being taken. She was smiling as Sirius kissed her temple and she spoke with Remus, who stood to the right of her. Next to Remus, was James, resembling Harry. James was talking to someone to his right, but he also seemed to be looking towards the camera, smiling at whomever was taking the photo. She guessed that it was Lily, since he was looking so fondly towards the camera. As Hermione inspected the picture closer, she decided that Peter must have been ripped out of the photo, because of the frayed edges next to James. The group of them was walking around the Black Lake. They looked so happy.

"Oh, Harry..." Hermione felt her voice crack.

"Look at the back," Harry said.

Hermione turned it over and saw what she recognized as Lily's handwriting. It read, '_Sirius, Hermione, Remus, James, and Peter at the Black Lake. April, 1977_'.

"I kind of imagine that this was Sirius' favorite photo," Harry said solemnly.

"This is amazing," Hermione whispered, turning the photo over again so she could closely examine it. "Are you sure you want me to keep it?"

"Yeah," Harry said simply, "I have plenty of pictures of my parents, and you're actually in this one, you deserve to keep it."

Hermione chuckled happily, "I guess this is finally our proof that I wasn't making the whole thing up."

Harry and Ron both laughed with her. Hermione was still smiling as she leaned her head into Ron's shoulder and took Harry's hand. She held the picture tightly in her hand, examining the way Sirius smiled as he kissed her head, the way Remus looked happy and young, the way James had a striking resemblance to Harry. It was perfect.

* * *

A/N: Are you as terribly sad as I am to see this end? I mean, I can't believe it. I've been working on this story forever.

It's been wonderful. Your reviews, favorites, and follows have kept this story going and I would thank each and every one of for it. If only I had the time to list all of you guys off...

As for the ending, I know the whole Ron/Hermione pairing thing may have come as a bit of a surprise, but I've been planning it for a while, and I quite like the pairing. I hope you don't hate me for putting them together in the end.

Now that this story is over, you may or may not want to read some of my other stuff. If you do, Chapter two is up for my marriage law fic, you can read that if you'd like. Also, I've been planning another time travel story for a while now. It's Remus/Hermione and it's really unique compared to most time-turners. It takes place after the Marauders have graduated Hogwarts. I don't want to give too much away, but there is also an interesting situation concerning Hermione. I haven't posted it yet, but you guys should put me on author alert if you want to read it when I do get around to publishing.

So, that's all I have to say. Thanks so much for reading.


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